Mother's Boyfriend and Agency Red Tape Kill Florida Baby

Babies, boyfriends, stupid mothers and bad tempers don't mix. Add incompetent child protective authorities, and you have a fatal incident just waiting to happen.

One year old Ezekiel Mathis has joined Isaiah Ian McGuire, Emmanuel Wesley Murray, Naomi Petit-Homme, and Jerimiah Shaney, Florida babies murdered by their mothers' boyfriend.

In the past six years, mothers' boyfriends were accused in the violent deaths of 13 children in the Tampa Bay area alone. Little Ezekiel Mathis is the latest statistic. All were receiving family services.

On May 18^th, thirteen month old Ezekiel died of head trauma and a torn liver, after being thrown against a dresser and beaten by his mother's 21 year old boyfriend, Damarcus Kirkland-Williams.

Kirkland-Williams said he was angry at the child's mother, 21 yearold Swazikki Davis, who was in the bathroom when the beating took place. Davis called paramedics, but it was too late. Ezekiel was dead when he reached the hospital.

Little Ezekial should not be dead. Three Hillsborough child protection and welfare authorities had already visited his home, one on the very day he died. The mother knew her home was being investigated,.

Two weeks earlier, Ezekiel's 2 year old sister was brought to the hospital covered with bruises. The mother's excuse was that the little girl was "pigeon toed" and "fell down a lot." The little girl also had a black eye and bruises on her pelvic area. Family members pointed to the mother, Swazikki Davis' boyfriend.

A court judge had ordered the little girl placed in foster care and the mother's boyfriend barred from the home. The judge also expressed grave concern over little brother Ezekiel's safety, and if need be, put him in foster care.

Then the fatal mistake -- In a new pilot program providing child and family services, everyone, the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office, Florida's Department of Children and Families, Hillsborough Kid's Inc., and the Attorney General's Office had to document and agree on Ezekiel's fate. Meanwhile, the little boy remained with his mother and Kirkland-Williams.

All the agencies made their home visits. The home was even visited twice on the day Ezekiel died. The worker actually reported that the mother's boyfriend, Kirkland-Williams was very helpful. In reality he had a criminal record, had violated his probation, and was being investigated for the abuse of Ezekial's sister and was not to be in the home.

Attorney General Pam Bondi's office had deciding legal authority over Ezekiel's fate.

Sheriff's authorities wanted Ezekiel removed from the home. Attorney General Bondi's office said after careful consideration, there was no evidence of physical abuse and Ezekiel should remain in the home.

The little boy's fate was sealed. He was lost in a sea of red tape and incompetence. Worst of all, his sister's abuser Damarcus Kirkland-Williams was with him in his home.

The social worker never read that Kirkland-Williams had been barred from the home. She even left Ezekiel in his care while she took the mother to a doctor's appointment. Later that day Ezekiel was killed.

And then there is the mother, Swazikki Davis. She withheld information from authorities. She at first wouldn't reveal the boyfriend's name when her daughter was found to be abused.

She later admitted that she violated the order to keep Kirkland-Williams away, but reasoned. "He didn't hit me. Why would he hit the kids? He cared for the baby and played with him. Ezekiel called him da-da." Kirkland-Williams even gave the baby CPR. She expects to get her daughter back home soon.

When learning that Kirkland-Williams had confessed to throwing the baby, and was in jail, she sobbed and ran to her bedroom "I never thought something like this could happen to me," she said. Davis grew up in foster care and was sexually abused.

"I don't understand why men want to get girls pregnant when they don't want babies. I don't like to argue I've never been in a fight. I like being by myself in dark rooms all quiet." She suffers from depression and anxiety.

This week Davis and her mother sat by a local Home Depot holding up a photo of slain Ezekeil and a cardboard sign with neo-colored letters that read, "Help Murdered Baby Burial Costs."

"I don't want to just throw him in a hole and say goodbye," the grandmother said. "I want him to have a good time hallelujah service. Ezekiel was special to me."

The tragedy has prompted an investigation of state policies responsible for protecting Florida's children.


Sources

St. Pete Times

TBO.com

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