Anger Lingers After Texas Boy's Death

[Jon]

Anger Lingers After Texas Boy's Death

Updated: 08-01-2005 09:59:09 AM
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MELISSA SANCHEZ

Genaro, left, and Norma Lechuga stand with their son Narito beside the grave of their son Carlitos. The parents say emergency workers were discriminatory and accused them of abuse when Carlitos was ill. The child died from a brain aneurysm.

Genaro Lechuga holds his son by Carlitos' grave. The parents spent much of their $93,000 compensation check to have Carlitos' remains moved to Bluebonnet Hills Memorial Park in Colleyville.

Genaro Lechuga hangs his sunglasses -- the ones Carlitos loved to wear -- on the metal vase with the white roses attached to the mausoleum wall.

His wife, Norma Lechuga, weeps as she runs a finger along her 2-year-old's name. His brown eyes smile from the photograph set in the marker.

Carlitos often speaks to her, she says. "Pudieron salvar mi vida pero no lo hicieron."

"They could have saved my life, but they didn't," he tells her.

Two to three times a week for the past year, the Lechugas have visited the marble crypt that holds their youngest child's remains. The familiar grounds comfort Genaro Lechuga.

Sometimes, the family brings toys and balloons to the spot at Bluebonnet Hills Memorial Park in Colleyville, arranging them around a bench that also bears his name.

Carlitos died April 20, 2004, three days after he collapsed from a brain aneurysm. The horror of those days has not faded.

In the first hours, as the Lechugas struggled to get help, Watauga emergency workers treated them like criminals who had deliberately injured their son, the couple said.

The family believes that discrimination prompted the workers to accuse them of abuse rather than administer the care that might have saved Carlitos, or at least allowed them to comfort him while he was still conscious.

The city has not acknowledged fault in the case. City officials, including several City Council members, and the emergency workers have declined requests for interviews. The only comment has come from City Attorney Mark Daniel, who said the workers acted appropriately.

Rest HERE: Clicky

 

[TTLWHKR]

If I feel a scene is suspicious, or an injury to anyone appears to be from some type of assult or abuse, I request the ER notify the police, while we are still at the hospital. I also use the child abuse hotline provided to us when I feel a childs injury is the result of either neglect or direct cause of a parent. Parents who are too busy to watch their young children, should not be parents. I've seen too many children injured and killed because they parents were not watching them. They wander off, all children want to explore; but with out an adult to be responsible for them they should not be allowed to wander. Everything; drownings, dog bites, falls, struck by vehicles, kidnapping, etc. If the parent, babysitter, or legal guardian is not with the child at the time of injury, when I get to them, and nobody knows where this person is, I report that to the police. If anything, you can call it accident and injury prevention.

In this case, of course the Emergency Personnel were wrong, who gives a **** about who did what, get the kid and take him to the hospital. Were not social workers, LEO's or detectives. Our job is to take the sick and injured to the nearest hospital that can treat them. Not to grill the parents on what happened, and our job description does not include diagnosing. Throw the mother in the pass. seat of the cab, slam the lil window shut, cover it with something and the ER can get the story from her. I'm assuming that what the parents 'contend' the medics telling people is just an assumption because they do not understand English. It is in Texas, they border Mexico, someone on every ambulance should be able to speak spanish, no matter what your political views are. You can't turn people away b/c you cannot communicate. No matter how you see it, 25 minutes on the scene with a critical, class 1 medical - Priority Red (whatever u call it where u r)-PEDIATRIC patient, is not acceptable. They should have ran in, immobilized the kid, and did a load & go. They should be fired just on the fact that they failed to do their job properly in the sense of 'do no harm'. They did harm by not acting quickly. And there were three of them, one could have gotten the info while two worked the kid. I'm sure the times are correct, because it seems like the testimony or timeframe goes along with a PCR.

PATHETIC.