HOUSTON – A mother is crusading for cameras in day cares after the tragic death of her baby son, and the idea is being brought to the state Legislature.
At 3 months old, baby Shane was healthy and smiling the day of his death two years ago when he was taken to a Houston day care. His mother, Shawna Diaz, got a call that staff had found Shane unresponsive after being put down for a nap.
Shane was rushed to a hospital, but it was too late.
“I was angry. I was sad. I was confused,” Diaz said.
An autopsy, and investigations by a sheriff’s office and the state, concluded Shane died from sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
“They investigated. They closed it. They found no wrongdoing whatsoever. That was the end of it,” Diaz said.
The findings, or lack thereof, were not good enough for Diaz, so she hired an attorney. When attorney Joe Alexander deposed the day care’s director and her mother, he said, “I can just tell you, my jaw dropped to the ground when I heard that testimony.”
Stories changed, from Shane being put down for a nap on his back to him being put down on his stomach, which is a violation of state rules. That prompted the county and state to reopen their cases.
The state ruled that Shane had become unresponsive because of his sleeping position, neglectful supervision and because staff members were not truthful when the day care closed. It took two years for all the evidence to come to light.
“It shouldn’t be that hard to find out what happened to your child,” Diaz said.
The mother said what could have prevented such a long and agonizing search for the truth is cameras, which could have captured how Shane was supervised that day.
A bill has been filed in Austin that would require day cares to have video cameras recording when children are being cared for.
“The pain that I feel losing a child, that any parent feels losing a child, I don’t want anyone else to go through that,” Diaz said.