South Carolina Child Injury Lawyer Blog

While the browsing state and local news, your Charleston child injury lawyers at Howell and Christmas, LLC came across an extremely bizarre incident involving the highly questionable and alleged action of a 17-year-old babysitter. According to reports the babysitter is alleged to have broken off a portion of a Xanax bar and administered it to the 4-year-old girl she was hired to take care of by putting the prescription drug into the child's lunch in an effort by the sitter to have the child calm down and take a nap. The sitter contacted the child's mother once the child had fallen numerous times, had hit her head, and exhibited signs of dizziness. The mother went home immediately after being contacted and found her child in "a state of potential unconsciousness."

Doctors discovered Xanax in the child's system while conducting blood work, prompting the child's mother to confront the sitter and search her purse. Found therein were five Xanax bars, which were later said to have been prescribed to a family member of the sitter.

For informational purposes, Xanax belongs to a group of drugs called benzodiazepines and works by slowing down the movement of chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced, effectively reducing nervous tension. It is used to treat anxiety disorders, panic disorders, and anxiety caused by depression. It is suggested that those prescribed to Xanax by a physician keep track of the amount of medicine used from each new bottle, as Xanax is a drug that is commonly abused and those prescribed should be aware if anyone is using the drug improperly or without a prescription. Because of its potential for abuse and its classification as a controlled substance, police instructed the mother mentioned above to contact the sitter's family and inform them that the drugs had been stolen and have them file a police report in regards to the theft. Understanding that the sitter is by no means a physician, the chances of the child overdosing on the drug meant only for adult use were particularly high. Thus, it is extremely fortunate that the child's reaction did not result in a wrongful death.

Because of the incident Horry County officers arrested the babysitter and charged her with unlawful neglect of a child.

Continue reading "Young Babysitter Tries To Use Prescription Drug To Induce A Nap" »

It is by no means new news that child sexual abuse cases have grabbed national attention in the last month. These devastating stories have brought to light a culture of sexual deviance that is not only physically abusive to the victims, but also extremely damaging in regards to emotional and mental development. In sharing these accounts of gross misconduct it is the aim of your Charleston accident lawyers at Howell and Christmas, LLC to inform South Carolinians of the unacceptable frequency in which these attacks occur, as well as implore victims of abuse to find the courage to speak out against those responsible for selfishly damaging the lives of far too many children.

Since it was discovered that a Mt. Pleasant educator, volunteer, and coach had been abusing young boys at various volunteer and work positions, a day hasn't gone by that child sexual abuse and molestation is reported on television, in local and nationally circulated papers, and across various platforms on the World Wide Web. In the cases involving the local coach and former Penn State assistant coach, it is apparent the administrators were more concerned with the reputation of their institutions than the well being of the children their employees seriously injured. We all know the famed head football coach at Penn State decided to follow the chain of command, reporting the sexual abuse seen by of one of his graduate assistants to the school's Athletic Director, instead of going directly to law enforcement. And it has been nationally reported that law enforcement was not contacted after former camper at the Citadel confronted administrators at the military academy, claiming that the local coach had invited him into his room to watch pornography. Both institutions failed not only the campers they intentionally neglected to protect, but also the communities they occupy by putting the "desire to protect their own" ahead of the young campers who trusted they would safe under their guidance.

Apart from these two widely covered instances of criminal sexual conduct, rape, and lewd acts, there have been several additional occurrences of equally troubling behavior involving child sexual abuse.

Continue reading "Charleston Child Injury Attorneys Note National Spotlight on Sex Abuse and Additional Lowcountry Incidents" »

In two months there have been two deaths of toddlers in Dorchester County. Back in mid January two people were arrested and charged with homicide by child abuse and Charleston child abuse attorneys briefly discussed the details of that incident. Now, it is awful to hear of another similar incident of child neglect and abuse. The known facts of the incident are as follows.

The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office and EMS, as well as the Old Fort Fire Department were dispatched to house on Jennings Drive the evening of February 16. Firefighters and paramedics administered advanced life support before rushing the less-than-year-old toddler to Summerville Medical Center where he was pronounced dead an hour later.

Continue reading "Another Dorchester County Toddler Died After Beating " »

South Carolina child injury lawyers came across the following disturbing incident. A woman operating a daycare out of her home in Aiken, SC has been arrested at that location and charged with homicide by child abuse. The powers that be say that the women had shook 16-month-old boy while under her resulting in the death of the infant. South Carolina child injury lawyers work hard in cases such as these to prevent future wrongdoing by the State's childcare workers.

According to wire reports investigators and medical workers say the boy died of brain injuries, which resulted from shaking and were sustained prior to his mother picking him up from the in home daycare. A child's crying and irritation are common triggers for the frustration that can lead to violence in a caregiver, but there is no reasonable or acceptable excuse to harming an infant.

Charleston Child Accident lawyers urge the public to be aware of how a particularly vicious case of child abuse was brought to justice. A 20-year old Dorchester County man recieved an 20 years in prison for his brutal attack on two young children. The man was found guilty of stomping on the genital areas of two children, ages 5 and 6.

The man was arrested on May 13,2008 by Dorchester County Law Enforcement. The children's grandmother had made the police aware of what had happened. The man pleaded guilty to pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, and one count of infliction of great bodily injury upon a child. In addition to his time in prison, he will be placed on the Child abuse registry and forced to register as a sex offender.

In speaking after the trial, First Circuit Assistant Solicitor Jean Popowski thanked the law enforcement officers and "the brave young victims who had the courage and willingness to testify against their abuser." Charleston area Child Abuse attorneys commend the work of both Law Enforcement professionals in bringing this case to conclusion.

Source: The Post and Courier, "Man gets 20 years in child abuse case", August 5th, 2009

Charleston child injury attorneys report that a Summerville man suspected of child assault has turned himself in to the police. The suspect is accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl over an extended period of time. The accused, a 40 year-old man, was charged for the alleged sexual assault to a minor on March 6 and was supposed to turn himself in, but he did not.

When he turned himself in he had multiple charges awaiting his arrival. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act upon a child under the age of 16 years old, Summerville Police Captain Jon Rogers told journalists.

The charges against the suspect were filed after the young girl told a classmate about the suspect’s inappropriate touching. The classmate told her parents who then emailed the school’s guidance counselor. The guidance counselor immediately had the student come in for a counseling session, where the counselor got the child to admit to the alleged sexual assault.

The 9-year-old girl told the counselor the abuse took place when she was left alone with the suspect and had been occurring from August 2009 until late February 2010. After the counseling session with the young girl, the counselor contacted the Police. The Police immediately filed charges against the man demanding him to turn himself in. The suspect did not turn himself in until Wednesday, March 17, twelve days after his warrant was issued.

Source: The Post and Courier- “Child assault suspect turns himself in.” March 18, 2010.