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What punishment will Katie's Kids get for death of toddler inside a hot van?
Katie's Kids plans to install alarms in all of its vans next week. The $250 devices are supposed to prevent another child death. The alarms are called the Kiddie Voice Child Reminder System.
When the driver reaches a destination and turns off the ignition, a warning sounds inside the van.
To turn it off, the driver must walk to the back of the van past all the seats where the kids sit to push a button to shut off the alarm. This compels the driver to walk through the van, checking to see that no children have been left behind.
One state lawmaker hopes to make these alarms mandatory for all daycare center vans in Florida.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A Delray Beach daycare that was the scene of a tragic death is one step closer to learning what kind of punishment it might face.
The Palm Beach County Health Department is formally releasing its findings after an investigation into Katie's Kids and the death of little Hailey Brockington.
The 2-year-old was left alone in a hot daycare van for most of the day back in August. It's been nearly 3 months since her death.
Attorneys with the state health department say in that incident, Katie's Kids violated four rules and regulations involving child care facilities: Katie's Kids did not directly supervise children at all times; Hailey was signed into the facility on an attendance log even though Hailey was not actually brought into the facility; the driver failed to conduct a physical inspection and visual sweep of the vehicle to make sure no child was left in the vehicle; and investigators found that a second staff member at Katie's Kids failed to do a physical inspection of the van to make sure no child had been forgotten in the van.
The county health department laid out its case to the environmental control hearing board at a meeting Thursday.
"Fining is really the only other thing we can do to prove our case that there was definitely something there," said Tim O'Connor, with the Palm Beach County Health Department.
Katie's Kids' owner, Kathryn Muhammad, said at a hearing on Aug. 19 that "I wasn't here to say what happened. And I can't, I mean its all hearsay. I mean literally I wasn't in the country at the time so you know, I'm trying to piece it together the best I can."
No one from Katie's Kids was at today's hearing.
But in the past, experts who oversee their funding have made it clear that what happened was inexcusable.
Katie's Kids could face fines of up to 5-hundred dollars a day.
The owners of Katies Kids will get a chance to present their side of what happened at a hearing next month with the Palm Beach County Environmental Control Hearing Board.
