PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood shook his head when he talked about the recent death of a 20-month-old boy from suspected child abuse.
As a coroner and a former emergency room nurse, he’s seen a lot in his career, but seeing a young child who was beaten and abused is never easy. But he tries to find something good out of something horrific.
He tried to find a way to have organs from Amiri Robinson of Peoria donated but was unable to get consent from the boy’s mother, Kaleeyah Sprinkle, 24, who is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the toddler’s death.
According to records, Sprinkle allegedly took Amiri to a fire station on Hurlburt Street on May 6 for help as the child was unresponsive. He had been found in a playpen unresponsive and taken to the firehouse, the court records state.
The boy, according to court records, was “naked and had bruising and bleeding around his left eye, scratches on his anus and deep bruising to his buttock and flank.” Firefighters rushed him to OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in critical condition.
By May 9, Harwood said, the young boy was on life support, and he had sought to use some of the boy’s organs for others as a way to say “he didn’t die in vain.” However, without consent, that didn’t happen.
Harwood praised the efforts of first responders and his own staff, who have to ask “the hard questions.” Investigating suspected child abuse, he said, is hard but necessary.
“Even if they make a report to DCFS, and it’s unfounded, they did their job of making that report out of suspicion alone,” he said. “Collect your evidence. Document well. Provide really, really good testimony when you need to on the facts. If it’s the facts of the matter, it’s really easy to talk about.”
Sprinkle also faces charges of aggravated battery for injuries Amiri and his twin sister suffered earlier this month. She remains in the Peoria County Jail pending a detention hearing on Thursday.
There, Circuit Judge Paul Bauer could opt to have her held pending trial or release her with special conditions.
Harwood said he hopes the case will bring up, again, concerns about others, and he urges people to pay attention to possible warning signs of abuse as well as to know how to reach out to authorities if they suspect it.
Parents can be frustrated, but there’s a “fine line” that one should not cross.
“I don’t think there’s a parent that’s not been frustrated, but there’s a fine line between taking action against that frustration. And I think that’s another opportunity that we can focus on as well when we talk about the prevention of child abuse and how do we stop these things from happening, because it is gut-wrenching,” he said.
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