Infant chokes to death on pine cone at North Carolina daycare, family claims he was dead hours before help arrived
A 10-month-old baby reportedly choked to death on a pine cone after being dropped off at a daycare center in North Carolina which has a history of violations. Helena Harris revealed that she had taken her grandson Areon Ellington to A Hug A Day Daycare on Adcox Place on Wednesday, May 29.
At 11 am in the morning she received a call from the nursery's manager who told her that the baby was choking on something. Areon was found with a piece of a pine cone in his mouth which had ended up blocking his airway and resulted in his death. A woman who identified herself as a relative took to Facebook to share that paramedics who had responded to the scene said that Areon had been dead for at least an hour before they were called.
The Raleigh Police Department looked into the infant's death and ruled that the child's death was an accident though an investigation is still underway and no charges have been filed as of now.
Grandmother Harris spoke to WRAL and said, "My grandbaby [is] gone. Somebody need to be responsible for what happened to him." The Division of Child Development and Early Education records showed that there had been several violations found at the daycare during 2016 and 2018. This included reports that dangerous and hazardous items such as chemicals and power tools were found on the property.
It also had problems related to health assessment filing and failure to maintain daily schedules. Other issues included failure to keep a check on sleeping babies and exceeding the allowed number of children at the daycare. The state agency revealed that all the violations have since been addressed and also fixed.
A cousin of Areon's uncle, Amanda Katrice took to Facebook to accuse the operator of the daycare of negligence and claimed that the infant was outside the house with no supervision when he had swallowed the pine cone. Her allegations have not been confirmed by investigators and the owner of the nursery has not been accused of any crime. Katrice wrote, "RIP baby boy....... justice will be served."
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