TX - Deandre Washington, 10 mos, dies of abusive injuries, 12 March 2009

The adults were not in the room, but the baby’s 5 and 7-year-old brothers were.

They claim the 12-year-old boy threw the baby.
The mother of the baby does have a history with Children's Protective Services.

Scott said that when she arrived at the townhome to pick up her kids, hours after the baby was injured, she was the first to call 911.

Scott says that her son is ADHD, is on medication and had once been suspended, but she says he’s not a violent child. She says that he often took care of his younger siblings. There are nine of them.

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The boy under the custody of county juvenile authorities is facing 40 years in prison if convicted for the killing of Deandre Washington.

The Houston Children's Protective Services said the boy and the baby were left by their mothers in the latter's home in southeast Houston together with other children on March 12. When the boy's mother, Tawana Scott, arrived, she found the baby unconscious and called 911. The baby died at the Texas Children's Hospital from blunt force trauma on March 14.

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Authorities still are trying to determine how many children were in the house in a working class section of southeast Houston when the mothers of the two sets of siblings left them alone. They also don't yet know whether the 12-year-old, who was the oldest in the group, was specifically left in charge.

The boy was not in school that day because he had been suspended for fighting.

"It's not clear whether the mothers told the 12-year-old, 'You are in charge,' and left with the intention of coming back. He would have been the oldest so more than likely you would think he would be in charge," Olguin said.

The 12-year-old has nine siblings, and all but two live with their mother, Tawanna Scott. Deandre's mother has three other kids.

The two mothers came home after the 12-year-old boy called them to say Deandre was not breathing, calling 911 after they got home, Olguin said. She said the other children witnessed the 12-year-old throw the baby to the floor.

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The 12-year-old’s mother, Tawanna Scott, has told authorities she was working March 12, while the baby’s mother watched Scott’s son, along with the baby and his three brothers, ages 4, 5 and 7, at her southeast Houston home. Scott, 31, arrived at the duplex after the baby already was injured, her mother, Betty Scott, said.

“She was the one who called 911,” Betty Scott said. “She was the one who gave the baby CPR and tried to administer help.”

Deandre’s mother first told investigators that she was home cooking when she heard the baby cry. Later, according to CPS, she told investigators that she and Scott had gone out to get something to eat, leaving at least five children alone at the duplex. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Assistant District Attorney Bill Moore said prosecutors will investigate the mothers’ roles in what happened.

Olguin said it remained unclear whether any of Scott’s other children were at the duplex. “If the mother of the deceased child normally takes care of other children, it leads me to believe there may have been children there other than the 12-year-old and the four children that live there,” she said.

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Deandre's mother first told CPS investigators she was home when she heard the baby cry and discovered he had fallen off the couch.

But later the baby's mother and the mother of the 12-year-old changed their stories, telling authorities that they had left a group of their kids alone at the house.

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But both mothers have come under CPS scrutiny before. Deandre's mother was investigated in 2004 for not following through with medical care for one of her children. That probe was not completed because the mother could not be located. The 12-year-old's mother had been investigated by CPS after a report her children had been left home alone, but CPS decided she wasn't at fault.

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Angels_Not_Forgotten said:

ok, she has previous problems with CPS, but yet, she still has 9 children? 10 counting him? aye yi yi....

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