Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Ryan E. Alekman, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
An 11-year-old boy of Salisbury, Massachusetts has been charged with assault and battery under the state’s anti-bullying law. According to authorities, the boy hit a smaller student with a backpack and slapped him, leaving a hand impression, while on a school bus. The boy has been indefinitely suspended from all bus privileges. The state’s anti-bullying laws encourage students to come forward with incidences of bullying. With the anti-bullying laws children feel something will actually get done and they will be taken seriously if they do come forward. Under the law, schools must have plans in effect regarding how to hand incidences of bullying and all incidents must be reported to local law enforcement. The 11-year-old boy who was charged reportedly has a history of bullying. After the most recent incident on the school bus, Salisbury police school resource officer Mike Adler began to assist in the investigation. Using the state’s anti-bullying laws against student bullies shows victims they will be taken seriously and will be safe at school in the future. For more read Massachusetts uses anti-bullying laws to charge 11-year-old boy after incident on school bus.
In Chicago, Illinois, the life of a 3 year old boy ended at an amusement park in Chicago, Illinois. The boy was riding a roller coaster called the Python Pit when some how he slipped under the safety bar and fell off the ride near Norridge, Illinois. The Go Bananas Amusement Park was the site of the incident which was investigated by the police department. Interestingly enough, the boy’s twin brother did not fall off of the ride. See Boy Dies After Fall from Chicago Roller Coaster.
A recent court ruling may make it easier for victims of child pornography to receive restitution from those convicted of possessing child pornographic images. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal restitution law generally does not require victims to detail how an individual defendant harmed them in order to get compensation, a ruling different from previous court holdings. However, legal experts are saying that the issue will probably end up having to be answered by the U.S. Supreme Court because of the disagreement among courts. In the Texas case, a woman sought compensation from an East Texas man who was previously convicted of possession images of child pornography. If you would like to read more see 
Jessica Tata, the former owner of a residential day care center in Houston, Texas, turned herself in to officials after she fled to Nigeria for her involvement in the death of 4 children while under her care. Tata’s residential day care caught fire sometime last month, killing 4 children under her care. Tata allegedly fled to Nigeria two days after the fire broke out. Charges were pressed against her the day after she fled from Texas. Tata was on the run for 20 days, during that time she was placed on the U.S. Marshal’s 15 most wanted fugitive list. She traveled with Nigerian officials to Lagos, where U.S. authorities met her. It is believed that Tata’s family played a role in her surrender. Tata faces four counts of manslaughter as well as multiple charges of injury to a child and 3 counts of abandoning a child. For more information on Tata’s surrender read 
Due to the high-profile cases of Jessica Lunsford, Carlie Brucia and Sarah Lunde, the Florida Legislature expanded the Jacksonville-based Child Predator CyberCrime Unit 10-fold, which included adding a wide array of detectives, prosecutors and victim advocates. The unit had five offices statewide and made hundreds of arrests. The unit became so noteworthy that its director made an appearance on “Oprah,” and was held out as a model for cracking down on sexual predators who use the Internet in their abusive acts. Although the unit appears to be one of the state’s valuable resources, it was not prevented from falling victim to Gov. Rick Scott’s vigorous budget cuts. The program’s staff was dramatically decreased from a 34-person staff to just 15 and were moved to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The proposed plan is to keep only 6 out of the 15 investigators statewide. Critics of the cutbacks are concerned that the FDLE will not have the resources to implement the labor-intensive online investigations the unit’s staff is use to conducting. For more details and criticisms read 
The license of a home-operated day care center has been suspended after a 17-month-old died in the provider’s care. It was a playpen-related death. The reasons for the suspension were lack of adequate supervision and use of sound judgment by the provider. Police Lt. Ken Landwehr said the initial investigation indicated the toddler apparently got “caught up” at the top of the playpen while attempting to climb out, which probably led to asphyxiation. However, police are expecting an exact cause of death after reviewing the autopsy results. The day care provider found the toddler unresponsive and called emergency crews, who pronounced the toddler dead shortly after their arrival. An emergency order of suspension was issued by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The order identified the home operated day care center and Amys Lil Angels and the day care operator by Amy Shannon Waner.
A Southern California couple is being tried for sexually abusing children at their residential day care center in San Diego. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that 59-year-old Mark Kaczmarczyk was convicted by a jury of felony child abuse and lewd conduct on a child. He faces up to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors argued that, in 2007, Kaczmarczyk sexually molested a 2-year-old girl at his home-operated day care center in Mission Valley. Kaczmarczyk’s 45-year-old wife, Anita, was also convicted of child abuse involving the same 2-year-old female victim and another 2-year-old boy.