The state-approved caretakers of a 3-year-old boy who died from “severe child abuse” last April have been arrested, CBS DFW reports.
Deondrick Foley and Joseph Delancy have been charged with injury to a child by omission causing bodily injury in the death of Amari Boone, who was disconnected from life support on April 12, 2020, two days after he was brought to the hospital.
The little boy’s father, 25-year-old Rodney Boone, told the Fort Worth Star Telegram shortly after the boy’s death that doctors told him Amari “had two broken arms, three broken fingers, a fractured pelvis, and severe trauma to the head, which caused the brain to over-bleed and caused him to sleep into a coma.”
Amari died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner. Police said the charges may be upgraded.
Foley and Delancy reportedly had legal custody of Amari and his younger brother Levi when Amari was taken to the hospital. Child Protective Services got involved when the boys’ mother, 22-year-old Ariana George, tested positive for marijuana while she was pregnant with Levi. CPS also said there were domestic violence reports between the parents.
But Boone and George had reported seeing increasing injuries on their son during visits. Both parents had approved of Foley and Delancy as caregivers the Star Telegram reported, and Boone had been friends with one of the men for a dozen years.
Police did not say why charges in the case took so long, but one reason could be multiple cases of child abuse and death in the Texas county.
When Amari was brought to the hospital on April 10, at least eight other abused children had been admitted to Cook Children’s Medical Center since March 18, as CrimeOnline reported. Three of those children, including Amari,mu died. The hospital said it typically sees around six child abuse death cases per year.
The hospital added that the fast-growing numbers of child abuse and death could possibly be attributed to the isolation and stress caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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[Feature Photo: Amari Boone/GoFundMe]
