Drowned boy’s family presses city for info
The attorney for the parents of a 7-year-old boy who drowned in July after he went missing from a city summer camp program said police have yet to respond to a public records request he sent last month for information about their investigation into the child’s death.
Attorney Robert M. Griffin yesterday said he requested all incident reports, interviews, 911 recordings and other materials pertaining to Kyzr Willis’ disappearance and death.
Although his family has not yet sued the city, “there certainly is the option of litigating for the information,” Griffin said, surrounded by about two dozen of Kyzr’s relatives and friends outside the Curley Community Center in South Boston, where the boy disappeared from the L Street Bathhouse on July 26. He was found about 4 hours later roughly 20 yards from shore at Carson Beach, just behind the center.
Two days later, Boston police announced that the boy had drowned accidentally — even though the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner listed the cause of death as pending, Griffin said — and that camp staff had conducted a thorough search as soon as they realized the boy was missing.
“They don’t even know who the last person was to see Kyzr that day,” he said.
“That’s all we’re looking for is answers,” said Anthony Toney, Kyzr’s uncle. “Where’s the accountability? Two months later, we still have no information ... How long do we have to wait?”
Toney said authorities also have not given the family the belongings the child had with him the day of his death, items of sentimental value such as his Ninja Turtles lunch box.
Police did not respond yesterday to requests for comment. In an email, Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh, said she could not comment because there is an ongoing labor relations investigation in connection with Kyzr’s disappearance and death. She would not elaborate, but said that Curley Center Director Fred Ahern, a former NHL player who was named to his $97,495-a-year position in 2003, is still on paid leave since the incident.
“I’m hoping something like this never happens to any other family,” said Kyzr’s father, Ralph T. Toney, who wore a shirt bearing his son’s photo and the words “in loving memory of Kyzr, our ninja.” “We send our children to programs like this trusting that they’re going to be safe. At the end of the day, I don’t think any parent should have to bury a child.”