Family of 3-year-old boy who died in day care van files suit
Grieving parents hope legal action will encourage child care facilities to better follow safety procedures
The parents of Raymond Pryer Jr. alleged that staff at a Houston day care facility were “grossly negligent” when they left their 3-year-old boy in a sweltering school van where he died after a field trip last month, according to a lawsuit they filed Tuesday.
The toddler’s father, Raymond Pryer and his mother, Dikeisha Whitlock-Pryer, said in a news conference Tuesday morning that their son’s death on July 19 at the Discovering Me Academy day care center left them “destroyed.” The grieving parents are hopeful their lawsuit will encourage all child care facilities to follow safety procedures, and in some cases implement additional measures that prevent children from being left behind in hot vehicles.
The family is also asking for more than $1 million in monetary relief in the suit filed in a Harris County court, but their attorney said no amount of money could make up for their anguish.
“I feel like a whole part of my insides is missing,” said Raymond Pryer.
The family’s attorney, Larry Wilson, said the boy’s death could have been prevented if the northwest Houston facility had followed its own procedures.
“You take your children to a day care in the morning, and you expect that people at the day care will be looking out for your children,” Wilson said. “That’s all this family wanted.”
The boy was discovered after his father came to the day care center to pick him up in the evening, and a search quickly revealed he had been left in the school van where temperatures were recorded by authorities as high as 113 degrees.
Shortly after the toddler’s death was discovered, police investigators and first responders said that a chaperone and the driver, both employes of the day care, left the boy in the bus for more than four hours. The staff had returned to the facility from a field trip at a local park with nearly 30 children.
Houston police said they are still investigating the toddler’s death, and no criminal charges have been filed.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is also continuing its investigation into the death, spokeswoman Tejal Patel said.
Since their son’s death, the family has created a website to draw attention to tragedies caused by leaving children unattended in automobiles.
Discovering Me Academy, located in the 8000 block of Antoine Drive, remained closed on Tuesday afternoon. Previously, staff who answered the phone at the facility declined to comment on the toddler’s death.
Wilson said he didn’t know whether the day care facility, or its owner and director Tanisha Butler, have retained an attorney.
The private facility was cited in 2015 for failing to install safety alarms on the buses and vans to prevent such tragedies, according to state records. They corrected that oversight within a month, but authorities have not elaborated on the safety measures in the bus where Raymond died, citing the ongoing investigation.