Dequan Greene, 28, of Rotterdam faces a slew of charges in connection to the Dec. 20, 2020 death of 4-year-old Charlie Garay and abuse of his older brother, including second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, assault in the second degree and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors, during opening statements, said Greene killed Garay by stepping on his chest, severely lacerating the boy’s liver and causing other internal injuries that would have killed the child within minutes, and then fabricated a story about why the boy stopped breathing while first responders worked to save his life.
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Resuscitation efforts continued after the child was transported from Greene’s Broadway home to Ellis Hospital, where he was eventually pronounced dead. Blunt force trauma was later determined to be the cause of death.
“These are catastrophic injuries. Injuries that killed him quickly,” said Assistant District Attorney Christina Tremante-Pelham.
Garay and his older brother, who was 5 at the time of the incident, were placed in the care of Greene and his wife, Latrisha, in September 2020 after being removed from the home of their biological parents by Child Protective Services in Albany County. The couple, who cared for three children of there own at the time, were certified foster parents.
Tremante-Pelham said the foster home was meant to be a safe haven for the children, but said Greene abused the boys and eventually killed the youngest brother, allegations she said will be proven through testimony from first responders, doctors, eyewitnesses and the medical examiner who performed the autopsy.
She added that there is also physical evidence, including photographs, that will show bruising all over the children’s bodies, as well as testimony from the Garay’s older brother, who suffered similar injuries.
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“Little did the children know, little did the case workers who put them there know, that this was not a house of respite, but a house of horrors,” Tremante-Pelham said.
But James Tyner, a lawyer for Greene, said his client was not responsible for the death of Garay and attempted the save the child’s life using CPR and showed great concern about the child’s condition while first responders attempted to save his life — action’s he said, that are not indicative of a murderer.
He added that the foster brothers had suffered abuse prior to being placed in the Greenes’ care and as a result were difficult to deal with at times, which necessitated discipline in order to ensure their “proper upbringing.”
Tyner said he plans to present evidence that will show Garay’s internal injuries were caused by the first responders attempting to save the child’s life. He did not mention a potential cause for why the child stopped breathing, only saying the circumstances were “tragic.”
“That severed liver was the result of, however well intentioned it might have been, the improper execution of CPR and the Heimlich maneuver,” Tyner said.
Greene told police that Garay became unresponsive after falling out of a chair, and that he called his wife, who was out shopping during the incident, instead of dialing 911. Latrisha Greene told her husband to alert authorities and begin administering CPR.
It was Latisha Greene who eventually called 911 after arriving home. She was initially charged with tampering with evidence, but those charges have since been dismissed.
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The case has led to questions about whether authorities ignored warning signs about abuse and whether enough was done to protect the children.
Last year, a lawsuit was filed in Albany County Supreme Court by attorney Lorraine R. Silverman, the court appointed guardian for the elder Garay brother and the estate of Charlie Garay, claims that that child protective services in both Albany and Schenectady counties missed repeated opportunities to relocate the children.
The lawsuit claims multiple employees involved in the case did not take the proper steps to “interview and assess” the two children “alone in an appropriate context, and take appropriate steps to assess whether (the children) were being abused and beaten.”
On Wednesday, Tremante-Pelham said case workers were unable to assess the children for a month, between Nov. 16, 2020 and Dec. 16, 2020, after the family took a trip with the foster children and canceled appointments in the weeks that followed due to COVID-19 quarantines necessitated by travel and concerns about infecting the virus.
Authorities were finally able to see the children in-person on Dec. 16, 2020, four days before Garay’s death, but the children were wearing long-sleeved track suits that covered their arms and legs, according to Tremante-Pelham, who added there was no sign of abuse at the time.
She added that Garay’s injuries were similar to those that could be sustained in a car crash and would have resulted in death within minutes, and that Daquan Greene’s explanation of what happened does not align with the facts, which she said show that he did showed no concern for Garay, even as first responders worked frantically to save the boy.
“Most people that night did everything the could to save him,” Tremante-Pelham said.
Contact reporter Chad Arnold at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @ChadGArnold.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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