Decatur, Illinois - a 3-year-old nonverbal boy with Down Syndrome survived a nightmare attack. DCFS wrongly separates him from his family and remains unapologetic.
On Friday, December 6th, Leo was riding home from Pershing school on the bus. Leo has to be strapped in a special stroller while he rides the bus. Leo's father, Kevin, received a call from the bus driver claiming that Leo was injured. Leo had been viciously and repeatedly kicked in the face while he was strapped in his special stroller. An older child kicked Leo in the face repeatedly for no reason. Being nonverbal and strapped into a stroller, Leo was forced to withstand all of the kicks to his face. No one came to Leo's aid during the attack. No one is certain where the bus driver or the aid were at during the assault. The entire incident is on video.
Leo's father rushed to the scene and found his son completely battered and bruised in the face. He took this picture just minutes after the attack. We had to blur the image below due to our page rules. You can find the unedited picture on Facebook where his family posted about their ordeal.
Sadly, Leo's face turned black and blue shortly after this photograph was taken. His right eye completely shut due to swelling. Leo had to be transported to a St Louis hospital due to the injuries.
DCFS was alerted to the situation. Leo's father called his toddler son's teacher who confirmed that Leo was uninjured at the time he left the school. The bus driver also stated the injuries happened while on the bus. He believed Leo scratched himself, however Leo's family believes he is just saying that to separate himself from the situation as Leo could not cause these severe injuries to himself.
The DCFS worker refused to watch the tape of what happened to Leo because she stated they did not work on weekends. However, detectives did their job in a timely manner and watched the video the very same day. The detective called Leo's father and told him the video was very hard to watch and he encouraged Leo's father not to watch the video.
The DCFS worker removed Leo's siblings from their home. No one ever accused Leo's family of causing him any harm. In fact, it was clear this happened on the bus from the very start. The family is outraged that the DCFS worker removed the children and placed them with another family member instead of watching the video.
Leo had to be transported to the St Louis hospital by ambulance. Leo's father followed behind the ambulance but when he arrived at the hospital he learned the DCFS worker had called the hospital and told them not to let Leo's father see him. Leo was traumatized.
When Leo was released from the hospital on Sunday, his family was not allowed to pick him up.
On Monday, the DCFS worker viewed the bus video which exonerated Leo's father. All of Leo's siblings were returned to the care of their loving parents. Reportedly, the DCFS worker remained unapologetic even after learning she was completely in the wrong.
The family was devastated they could not see each other over the weekend. Leo's parents were traumatized that they could not check on their son.
Leo's injuries were extensive.
Little Leo was actually adopted at birth. His father Kevin says that Leo is SO innocent and pure that he "sees the face of God" when looking at his son.
The bus driver and the aid are not being charged in this case. The family has stated publicly they believe neither party was doing their jobs at the time poor Leo was attacked so viciously. The bus driver and aid stated they did not see the attack.
The family is upset with DCFS for refusing to watch the tape that would have quickly exonerated Leo's father. Their family did not need to be separated at all. Had the DCFS worker spent time watching the video instead of calling the hospital and preventing Leo's father from comforting him, the correct action would have been taken from the start.
Leo, more than anyone else, deserved to have loved ones by his side during the scary medical procedures and medical stay.
I have always been told that DCFS does not work on the weekends. I spoke to an anonymous DCFS upper official and they stated they do work on the weekends. There is always someone to take a phone call or a supervisor to deal with these types of incidents. The family also stated that the DCFS worker had the time to separate healthy, happy and uninvolved children from their loving parents but she didn't have enough time to watch a short video to get the facts in the case.
There were surely children that needed help that very same day and they did not receive it. Leo needed his family but the DCFS worker did not allow him to have that small comfort because "they don't work weekends"....
An official choosing to remain anonymous verified all information during our interview.
Comments
Post a Comment