Three employees of a childcare center in Memphis, Tennessee, are facing felony charges following the death of a six-year-old girl left inside a van in triple-digit heat. Winter Jones, a non-verbal, autistic child, died August 13 after being in a Kid University van for at least six hours outside the facility in the Cordova neighborhood. Picked up from home that morning, Winter was originally scheduled to be transported by staff to Macon Hall Elementary School but instead remained in the vehicle when it returned to the Kid University facility.
According to state investigators, facility staff failed to conduct required vehicle inspections, neglected to perform necessary van walk-throughs and kept inaccurate transportation logs. On the day Winter died, Memphis temperatures reached the upper 90s with a heat index of 103 degrees Fahrenheit, according to National Weather Service data. Tametria Norry, the driver, Assistant Director Sabrina Powe and daycare assistant Amilya Hardin, are each charged with aggravated child neglect, criminally negligent homicide and the destruction and tampering of governmental records, ABC 24 Memphis reported.
The Shelby County District Attorney's Office reported that the indictment against the three staff members was returned by a grand jury September 11. Bail for each defendant was set at $100,000. Court records indicate Norry and Powe were booked on the day of the indictment, while Hardin was arrested Monday.
Kid University has permanently closed following the incident. Raven Marshall-Lewis, the owner, surrendered the facility's license immediately after the child's death. State records confirm this marks the second child fatality at a childcare facility operated by Marshall-Lewis following the 2021 death of three-month-old Colt Adkins at the Ivy League Learning Center in Bartlett, Tennessee.
Marshall-Lewis continues to operate six other facilities across Shelby County. The indictments followed a press conference held by the family, less than two weeks after the child’s funeral. I won’t become a grandfather.
All of that was taken away by absolute negligence, by people who were too busy doing nothing to where they couldn’t make sure Winter was taken care of properly.” Nakia Cloman, the child's mother, recalled receiving the notification from the facility. She was gone.” The family’s lawyer said that criminal charges offered initial accountability but they were still considering a civil lawsuit. They were the last gatekeepers to that system operating properly.
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