Sentenced: Family Of Child Who Drowned In Retention Pond Shows Mercy Toward Nanny Who Was On The Phone

[Sugar Cookie]

A plea for mercy from the family of a young child who drowned in a retention pond at a Chester County park has led to the early parole of a nanny whose distraction from her duty to pay attention to his whereabouts indirectly contributed to the boy’s death.

On Thursday, after receiving a lengthy letter from the boy’s family asking that she be treated with compassion, the District Attorney’s Office agreed to allow the nanny, Imani Lewis, to be released from local custody after serving 188 days in Chester County Prison.

In the letter, the mother of the child — a non-verbal boy who had been diagnosed as autistic — related how Lewis had been diligent and caring with the child and his other family during her work with them, even on the day he died. And although the family still grieves mightily over the child’s death — “The shock we feel can never be put into words” — they were not out to punish Lewis, she wrote.

“Since I got that fateful call, my entire existence has fallen apart, and I have struggled with every emotion that any human, any mother can ever imagine when their worst nightmare comes to pass,” the mother wrote. “But in the midst of all this, in my core I still truly believe that Imani wanted to help and made an awful mistake.

“We do not blame Imani,” the mother wrote, asking that she be released as soon as possible.

In a statement issued following the plea, District Attorney Chris deBarrena-Sarobe said: We are relieved that the defendant took responsibility for her actions by pleading guilty today. She was sentenced based on the wishes of the family. This is just a sad and tragic case – no family should have to lose a child because of a distracted caretaker.”

O’Brien and Nelson both told Wheatcraft that even when she is paroled from her county sentence, Lewis is not going to be freed from custody anytime soon. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has filed a detainer for her, and will likely begin deportation proceedings once she is transferred to its custody.

O’Brien said that Lewis had expressed her intention not to fight her deportation and to return to her native Jamaica as soon as she can. Lewis wept through the entire proceeding. “ I can see that you are very remorseful,” the judge told Lewis, who was dressed in prison clothes and shackled. “Thank you very much,” she told Wheatcraft as the judge wished her good luck.

According to the facts that O’Brien read into the record for Wheatcraft, and to which Lewis agreed, the child died the evening of Sept. 2 at the Wilson Farm Park in Tredyffrin, where the family lived.

The woman was allegedly preoccupied with looking at her cell phone while the child wandered away from her and into the nearby pond, authorities said. He drowned as she was distracted.

The criminal complaint filed by township Detective Michael Cermignano details how on that date at approximately 6:49 p.m. officers were dispatched to Wilson Farm Park, in the Chesterbrook subdivision of the township in the county’s eastern side, for the report of a missing 3-year-old, non-verbal child. Lewis, who was working as the child’s nanny, was the person who called 911.

Officers searched the area of the park, including a path leading to the stormwater retention pond, which was about 300 feet from the playground.

When police approached the water’s edge they spotted the victim unresponsive in the pond. The child was taken out of the water and emergency life-saving measures were administered, but unfortunately, the child died. Investigators later determined that Lewis had been in contact with several people through phone calls and text messages, before, during and after the victim had gone missing.

Video surveillance at the park showed the child utilizing the play sets while Lewis was observantly using her cellphone and distracted from supervising him. When she was initially interviewed, she gave conflicting information about what had occurred. But police were able to piece together how long the child had been out of eyesight from Lewis before she noticed him missing. The time, said O’Brien, was “significant.”


However, Lewis eventually acknowledged her distraction and did not fight the charges against her.

MSN