$135 million sought in suit over child’s death in hot van

$135 million sought in suit over child’s death in hot van

Memphis firm announces civil claim on behalf of family

news@theeveningtimes.com

Even as the criminal trial in the hot-van death of fiveyear- old Christopher Gardner, Jr., is set to begin at the end of the July, another wrinkle in the case has developed.

Ashley Smith, mother of young Christopher, has filed a civil suit. Smith attended a memorial flagraising ceremony for her son on July 10 at the West Memphis Police Department, but was tight-lipped about her next steps, not speaking during the program and declining an interview afterwards.

“My attorney said I shouldn’t be talking about this,” Smith said at the time.

But now her attorney is talking.

Memphis attorney, Randall Jay Fishman held a press conference last Thursday afternoon to announce he had filed a $135 million lawsuit in Crittenden County Circuit Court on behalf of Smith against Ascent Children’s Health Services. Smith claims in the suit that her son died as a result of willful and reckless lack of supervision that amounted to gross negligence by both the workers and the company at its facility in West Memphis.

Gardner died after being left behind in a van he had ridden in almost daily for most of his young life. Police said temperatures in the van soared upwards to 141 degrees on June 12, the day Gardner was left in the van in the Ascent parking lot.

He was discovered unresponsive at the end of the day around 3:30 p.m. The boy had freed himself from his car seat, and struggled in the heat pulling off his shirt and a shoe as he languished, abandoned and trapped inside the childproof locked van. He was found in the back row sitting upright across the bench from his car seat.

Workers were found to have circumvented the protocols dictating a van walk- through and instead walked around the outside of the van and opened the rear door to reach inside to shut off the child safety alarm over the backseat, according to police. Gardner’s car seat was overlooked in the back row.

West Memphis Police Captain Joe Baker indicated investigators had reviewed policies, procedures and paperwork and had workers re-enact the bus walk-through with police before their arrests.

“It was nearly impossible, if they had been paying attention to this child where he was seated in the van,” said Baker in a July 10 interview. “The poor boy suffered.”

One of the day care workers signed a check sheet saying Gardner was off the van.

“But for (their) acts and omissions in failing to provide adequate care, supervision and assistance, Plaintiff’s decedent would not have died inside the day care van,” the lawsuit read.

The law firm of Ballin, Ballin and Fishman handled the suit-filing, with the ultimate goal of helping to ensure safety for children riding in vehicles.

“The death should have never had to happen,” said attorney Fishman. “This five-year-old didn’t get to first grade. It strikes your heart; it should never have happened.”

The health service center and the four employees it fired (who were subsequently arrested by West Memphis police) are named in the suit. Ascent is led by State Representative Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro), the CEO for the last four years.

The early child development center works with pre-school children with behavioral, speech and physical therapy needs. The pediatric day clinic company has 10 centers throughout the state, including sites in Arkadelphia, Batesville, Benton, Blytheville, Jonesboro, Mountain Home, North Little Rock, Paragould, and Trumann, in addition to the one in West Memphis.

Four former employees will stand for felony manslaughter criminal charges for Gardner’s death. The trial is set to begin later this week, and were each named in the civil suit brought by Smith, along with the company.

The four women are van driver, Felicia Phillips, van chaperone Pamela Robinson, transportation supervisor Wanda Taylor, and Ascent van safety director Kendra Washington.

By John Rech