Story of Lake Worth boy’s death crumbles

Father first told police that dogs were responsible for 2-year-old’s fatal injuries. He’s now facing manslaughter, abuse charges

Two months shy of his second birthday, the boy arrived at the ER last October with brain injuries and was rushed into surgery. Detectives then spoke with his parents to find out what happened.

Two dogs got loose at the family home west of Lake Worth and knocked the defenseless toddler into a toilet, explained Ernest Lee Jenkins, listed in records either as the father or someone directly responsible for the boy’s care.

But doctors said there was no way that would have caused the broken skull, bleeding in the head, and bruises, which six days later resulted in the boy’s death. Prosecutors filed manslaughter and child abuse charges against Jenkins, 23, who has pleaded not guilty.

Right after the incident, state child protection authorities took into custody two other young children from the home — an infant and a 3-year-old — and they continue to review what happened.

“The Department of Children and Families’ investigation into this young child’s heartbreaking death remains open, and we will continue to work with law enforcement in this investigation,” spokeswoman Paige Patterson-Hughes said Tuesday, adding that the other kids “are safe in our care.”

A DCF incident report, with no names listed, shows that the victim’s father called 911 about noon Oct. 7, after he and the mother found the boy “unresponsive.”

The almost 22-month-old boy died Oct. 13 in the pediatric intensive care unit of St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, the report states. The agency had no previous known involvement with the family.

A Palm Beach County sheriff’s arrest report filed with the court case also does not show the names of the parents, or the child. But the dates and the circumstances align with the DCF report and other court records, suggesting Jenkins was the father.

Jenkins initially admitted to nothing more than leaving the child unattended in a bathroom, sitting on a potty seat placed on the floor, before the dogs rushed in and knocked him over.

But Jenkins later changed his story, after the child’s mother and

grandmother apparently cooperated with investigators. In an interview before the boy died, Jenkins said he got frustrated after the boy repeatedly refused to get into a bathtub.

So the father, listed at 5 feet 9 and 145 pounds, used his open hand and “scooped” the child “a little too hard,” Jenkins told the detective.

It wasn’t the first time he had become aggressive toward the boy. Jenkins said he previously pushed the toddler, “trying to toughen him up.”

This followed the mother’s version of events.

“After the child being asked several times to get in the shower, he pushed him from the shoulder and the child fell into the shower face up,” the detective wrote, recounting the mom’s statement.

At that point, the injured boy’s eyes rolled back in his head and the parents “freaked out.” They frantically tried CPR and ran shower water over the child in an effort to revive him.

The mother said that a week earlier, Jenkins punched the boy “with a palm strike punch causing the child to cry hysterically and he sustained a bruise on his arm.”

In a phone call recorded by the detectives, Jenkins told the woman he “cannot tell the truth as he is not going to jail,” the report states. In a second call, Jenkins admitted to the grandmother that he pushed the boy into the shower, and then he and the mother “panicked.”

The felony charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child in punishable by up to 30 years in state prison. The child abuse count could bring a sentence of up to five years.

Records show Jenkins had two prior charges on his record, a 2018 misdemeanor marijuana possession count and a 2017 citation for driving without a license.

He has been held on a $250,000 bond at Palm Beach County Jail, since the day after the boy was admitted to the hospital.

On Tuesday, Jenkins asked Circuit Judge Caroline Shepherd for a reduced bond, but she declined. His next hearing is set for Feb. 4.

Jenkins