Megan Ford: Baby turned bluish and died after mother strapped his seat belt too tight
An Indiana mother has been charged with with child neglect after investigators determined that her infant son died from the buckles and straps being too tight on his car seat. On the morning of May 26, 2021, 35-year-old Megan Elizabeth Ford noticed that her son, Kai, was motionless in his car seat after driving for no more than 15 minutes to her mother's house.
Megan assumed Kai was sleeping in the car seat, according to court documents. By the time emergency personnel were called, the baby had blood coming from his nose and mouth and appeared to be bluish in color,
When she put her baby in the car seat, he was "a bit fussy," Megan told officials. “During the 12-15 minute drive to [her mother’s] house, the Defendant thought [the victim] fell asleep,” the affidavit reads. “Upon arrival at [the mother’s] house on Prine Road, the Defendant and [her mother] observed [the victim] was unresponsive, had blood coming from his nose and mouth, and appeared to be bluish in color.”
READ MORE
Karine Jean-Pierre: MSNBC-bound Jen Psaki may be replaced by first LGBTQ Black woman press secretary
Cause of death
Officials discovered a bruise on the infant's belly during an autopsy, which "matched up perfectly to where the buckles would have been strapped on [the victim] when he was placed into the car seat." Investigators attempted to re-insert the infant's body into the car seat to see how the buckles would have fallen across him if he had been alive. “The straps were not able to be buckled, but it was uncertain how much [the victim] may have been swollen due to CPR chest compressions,” the investigators said.
“The blood from his mouth and nose could have been from his lungs, due to the pressure of the asphyxiation,” said the doctor who analyzed the child’s death. The infant had five cracked ribs, which the doctor described as "a little high" for CPR-related injuries. "However, he could not rule that out as the cause of the broken ribs," the paper continues. According to an autopsy report referenced in the probable cause affidavit, the cause of death was "probable mechanical asphyxia due to chest and abdomen compression."
The child was underweight
During a wellness check just days before his death, the child weighed in at 8 pounds and 2 ounces. Megan told investigators that Kai weighed 4 pounds, 14 ounces at birth, and had been using the same Graco car seat that she used when she brought him home. But she explained that she never adjusted the straps because she did not know how to.
Megan said she knew the straps were tight two days prior when she took Kai to his doctor’s appointment. The Graco car seat was a gift from her mother, she added, and she planned on getting her mother to help her with the adjustment the day the baby died.
Megan then reportedly showed officials how she placed the child in the seat using the actual seat and a "like-size doll." According to the affidavit, she "demonstrated and explained how she would have to move his lower body down into the seat to get the straps over his shoulders."
New parents
The victim's father, Quentin Hoskins, told police he informed Megan a few days before the child died that the car seat straps were "getting too tight." According to the affidavit, Hoskins said, "I could barely get him in the car seat.” Hoskins said Kai was his first child and that neither he nor Megan understood how to tighten the car seat straps. He also used a doll to show how tight the straps would have been if the infant had been buckled into the seat.
Megan is charged with felony neglect
Megan was charged on Friday with a level 3 felony, neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily damage. According to court papers, she has a court hearing on April 5. According to a jail official, she was freed from the Allen County Jail on Friday after posting a $10,000 bail. The defendant, who has a Fort Wayne address in court records, is scheduled to appear in court on May 23 for another trial.