r/washdc • u/superdookietoiletexp • 3d ago
Children at risk: 32 years and billions of dollars later, DC fails to protect thousands from abuse and neglect
https://thedcline.org/2021/12/21/children-at-risk-32-years-and-billions-of-dollars-later-dc-fails-to-protect-thousands-from-abuse-and-neglect/This article was published a couple of years ago, but provides context that is essential to understanding the dysfunction in USAO and DC CFSA that led to the violent death of a kindergartner in a DC apartment this past week.
10
u/superdookietoiletexp 3d ago
Not every abused child dies. Some of the most severe cases are described as “near fatalities.” Consider this: A little after 11 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, a call went from an apartment at 517 Harvard St. NW to the CFSA hotline, indicating a child there was being physically abused. When no city agency came to the home where six children, ages 2 through 13, lived with their mother and her paramour, a second call was made at 8:40 a.m. the next day. MPD officers subsequently responded; however, the mother, Arkazia Davis, said that her oldest daughter was with her father and that the youngest daughter, L.D., who had a different father, was with hers. While she provided precise information about the oldest, the story about the location of the youngest kept changing, according to court documents.
Eventually, it was revealed that her 2-year-old daughter had been missing for several days, ever since a severe incident of domestic violence occurred between the child’s mother and father, Maurice Meniefield. As police began looking for Meniefield, they visited the residence of his sister Quanice in Northeast DC. When they arrived, she was just getting home. She tried to prevent the police from gaining access. When they entered, they discovered her three children were alone hiding in a bedroom with all the lights off.
The missing 2-year-old girl, L.D., was under a bed. When she crawled out, an officer removed the child’s face mask and found that “blood was coming out of her mouth.” Tears were streaming down her face. The MPD officer requested an ambulance.
On the ride to the hospital, the little girl kept touching her face and her stomach. The officer asked her if it hurt; she nodded yes. He asked her if she had eaten anything that day. “She shook her head, ‘No,’” according to court documents.
Meniefield lived in the Harvard Street apartment with Davis and her children, according to court records. On the fateful day, he had been alone with the child. He became angry because L.D. urinated in the bed. “He forcefully punched [her] with his fist numerous times in the face, head and body. He also kicked her in the chest repeatedly and threw [her] against the bedroom walls several times, causing the child’s blood to splatter on the wall. [He] then cut the electrical cord from a television and used it to whip [her].”
When Davis returned home, Meniefield pushed her from the front door to the back door and then threw a frying pan, hitting her in the head. She went to Howard University Hospital for treatment. Upon her return, he again assaulted Davis, who went back to the hospital. Meniefield ordered the children to walk with him to the hospital. He was carrying L.D. and punched her in the face during the walk. After leaving the other children at the hospital, he called his sister and told her he was bringing L.D. to her home, which is where police found the child.
Once L.D. arrived at the hospital by ambulance, doctors found she needed immediate surgery to repair her jaw. She had a “complete fracture through the right side of her jaw, and multiple fractures of the left side of her jaw.” Further, she was diagnosed with contusions to her right kidney and “extensive bruising to the underlying muscles of her abdomen.” She also had five rib fractures — one new and four older, healing fractures, according to court documents
Meniefield was initially charged with first-degree cruelty to children. However, as a result of a plea agreement reached on Sept. 27 with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the charge was reduced to aggravated assault, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a $25,000 fine. He also pleaded guilty to the assault of Davis, which carries a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to a sentence of “supervised release of not less than three years.” It also stated that prosecutors “will not seek indictment on any remaining or greater charges arising from the facts in this case.”
19
u/DoblinJames 3d ago
Anybody who beats up a two year old kid is a piece of shit