Day-care employee “unknowingly sits on 2-year-old boy till he dies”
An American toddler suffocated under a chair at day-care center after the person paid to take care of him sat on it reading to other children, police say.
Leonardo Sanchez, the unfortunate boy, was buried last Saturday – the day he would have turned two.
His tragic death came around noon on September 8 at West Jordan Child Center in Salt Lake City.
Police say security footage showed Leonardo creeping under a bean bag chair at the center moments before an employee, apparently unaware the boy was there, sat on the chair.
The employee, still sitting, then read to the other kids for at least 15 minutes after which it was noticed Leonardo was “missing”.
Responders attempted to resuscitate the toddler at the day care, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
But it was too late. He was pronounced dead at Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Hospital later that night.
“He was a cute bundle of joy,” Leonardo’s mother Danielle Sanchez told Fox 13. “He brought a lot of love.”
“I’m just confused,” the mother told NBC affiliate KSL. “I’m so confused on how you don’t know where my kid is. How do you not feel him? How do you not hear him scream?”
Dan Sanchez, the boy’s father, told KUTV the day-care needed to change its practices and be held accountable.
The center said in a statement:
“We regret deeply the tragic death of a young toddler at our day care facility. No words adequately describe the depth of the sorrow we feel. And, of course, we do not pretend to understand how devastating this is for the family.”
