MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The family of 9-month-old Tayvon Tomlin is suing Lincoln Marti Schools after the child was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at a hospital earlier this year.
“They haven’t given us any answers,” said Keiara Whorely, the child’s mother. “The day it happened, they weren’t even the ones who called and told me.”
The family says the faculty at the Homestead daycare was inadequately staffed and that workers lacked proper training.
“You have to have at least one provider for every four infants. Lincoln Marti had one for every eight infants,” said attorney Michael Levine.
The lawsuit alleges a surveillance camera inside the infant room was inoperable, but disturbing video clips just released by the family’s lawyer’s show what happened in an adjacent room -- what they say are inadequate attempts to revive the child, who was limp and unconscious.
In one of the videos, an employee can be seen holding the child face down while slapping his back multiple times. Two other clips show a worker attempting mouth to mouth while holding the child, and not doing chest compressions.
A report from fire rescue that arrived on scene says CPR was not being conducted when they arrived.
“They failed this family and they failed Tayvon,” said attorney Stephen Cain.
The family also says the scene unfolded in front of Tayvon’s 4-year-old brother, who is still traumatized by what he saw.
“I’m always going to be frustrated, hurt, crying, missing my baby,” said Whorely. “But all my fight is directed to this case and figuring out what’s going on.”
Lincoln Marti is denying many of the allegations made in the lawsuit, including that there were not enough workers to care for the amount of infants at the daycare that day.
The attorneys representing Tayvon’s family meanwhile are pushing for the State Attorney’s Office to look into the child’s death and see if criminal charges are warranted.
Local 10 News reached out to Lincoln Marti for comment but have not heard back.
View the full complaint and amended affirmative defenses below: