Day Care Employee Charged in Death of 2 Year Old
Maggie
Hurt girl not helped quickly, police report
Day-care worker admits striking child who died, authorities say
01/31/2000
By Drake Witham / The Dallas Morning News
HURST - An 18-year-old day-care employee who police said struck and killed a
2-year-old girl last week continued to pick up toys before attempting to revive
her and calling for assistance.
Jeremy Phillip Mercier
Jeremy Phillip Mercier is being held in the Hurst Jail on capital-murder
charges in the death of Megan Elizabeth Godley.
Hurst Detective Rick Shelby said Mr. Mercier, an employee at the Fun 4 Kids
Child Development Center, admitted taking out his frustrations by striking the
girl Tuesday. Mr. Mercier turned himself in to police at 6 p.m. Saturday and is
being held in lieu of $150,000 bond.
Megan, who suffered multiple head trauma, was taken to Cook Children's Medical
Center in Fort Worth on Tuesday. She died at 8:50 a.m. Wednesday.
"He said he had a rough day and took out all of his frustrations on her,"
Detective Shelby said Sunday. "In 10 years in police work, this is perhaps the
most tragic thing in my experience."
Mr. Mercier, who lives in the 300 block of Arthur Drive, was alone in a
classroom with 16 children between the ages of 2 and 4 Tuesday afternoon,
Detective Shelby said. He was showing the children a video and Megan was
sitting with him in a chair. He began picking up toys and Megan followed him,
asking to be held, police said.
"She was being very persistent, poking him, saying, 'Hold me, hold me,' "
Detective Shelby said.
Mr. Mercier then shoved the girl, Detective Shelby said.
"She struck her head on a wooden cabinet, went soaring through the air,
according to his statement, and hit her head on a wooden table before falling
to the floor," Detective Shelby said.
Police said Mr. Mercier continued to pick up toys while Megan lay slumped under
a table where she landed. When she did not move, he slapped her face lightly
five times and then harder a sixth time in an attempt to revive her, Detective
Shelby said.
Employees of the day-care center, at 306 E. Pecan St., called 911 at 5:50 p.m.
and said Megan was suffering a seizure, police said.
Mr. Mercier initially told police that Megan had fallen but later said he
struck her, police said.
Officials with the day-care center could not be reached Sunday.
Robert and Victoria Godley, Megan's parents, were in Kentucky on Sunday for the
funeral, police said. They could not be reached for comment. A neighbor
described Megan as "a very lovable baby."
"She was just a good baby," Shirley Gambaro said. "She was very close to her
dad. They had a special bond."
Ms. Gambaro, a frequent baby sitter for Megan, said she and other neighbors at
the Sequoin Bend Townhouses in the 600 block of Brown Trail Road were in shock.
"This still hasn't sunk in," she said.
Megan was the Godleys' only child, Ms. Gambaro said.
She said she hoped that a memorial service planned for February in Hurst would
bring some closure to the incident.
The day-care center, a few hundred yards from the apartment complex, opened in
February 1999; Megan was the first child at the day care and often spent 10
hours a day there, police said. There are no charges against the day-care
center, but the investigation is ongoing, police said.
Mr. Mercier started working at the day-care center in June as a maintenance man
and helper who performed duties such as getting extra diapers for children,
police said. He left in December and returned in early January, when he was
permitted to be in a classroom alone with children, police said.
Mr. Mercier attended L.D. Bell High School in Hurst but did not graduate,
police said. He told investigators that he had not earned a General Educational
Development certificate.
Police said he has no criminal record. Mr. Mercier was charged with capital
murder - because the girl was younger than 6 years old - and faces a maximum
sentence of life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
The case will be presented to the Tarrant County district attorney's office
Monday or Tuesday, and Mr. Mercier will be transferred to the Tarrant County
Jail, police said.
Maggie
"Caution: Cape does not enable user to fly."
-Batman Costume warning label
WyrdWoman
>
> Mr. Mercier then shoved the girl, Detective Shelby said.
> "She struck her head on a wooden cabinet, went soaring through the
air,
> according to his statement, and hit her head on a wooden table before
falling
> to the floor," Detective Shelby said.
> Police said Mr. Mercier continued to pick up toys while Megan lay
slumped
> under a table where she landed. When she did not move, he slapped her
face
> lightly five times and then harder a sixth time in an attempt to
revive her,
> Detective Shelby said.
This is sickening. What are the qualifications for hiring day care
workers, out of curiosity? Apparently he did this in front of the whole
classroom of toddlers, then?
RIP, little Megan.
--
WyrdWoman
http://www.mindspring.com/~amy.webb/
MZ
Merc
Dani Koffee wrote:
> Heya WyrdWoman,
>
> >This is sickening. What are the qualifications for hiring
> >day care workers, out of curiosity?
>
> There aren't any. Day Care 'teachers' are paid minimum wage.
> To require them to have any qualifications would mean that Day
> Cares would have to pay them living wages. I don't see that
> happening any time soon.
>
> >Apparently he did this in front of the whole classroom of
> >toddlers, then?
>
> Yes, that's apparently what he did.
>
> One teacher to sixteen two-and-three-year-olds does not
> sound legal to me. In the State where I worked Day Care
> (at minimum wage) that age group was supposed to have
> seven kids to one teacher. Of course, the Day Care (like
> most Day Cares) didn't pay *any* attention to that law. I
> often worked alone in a classroom with up to thirty
> children in that age range. The classroom was supposed to
> have tweny-one or less children, with one teacher per seven
> toddlers. But I worked alone at least two days a week, and
> in the two years I worked there, we *never* had the legally
> required three teachers in that room.
>
> For that, I was paid $3.65 and hour.
>
> This man has committed a crime that is absolutely unthinkable
> and should be punished accordingly, but meanwhile, why am I
> not seeing articles about the number of small children he was
> caring for alone? Why am I not seeing articles that show that
> his lack of education is common for Day Care teachers? Why am
> I not seeing articles showing the average wage for Day Care
> workers? Why isn't anyone taking a good hard look at the
> circumstances surrounding this death, beyond the violence of
> one man who was probably incredibly overworked and frustrated?
>
> All of that is no excuse for the murder he's committed, but
> this murder isn't a first and won't be a last... and we have
> no reason to expect anything else when we don't pay living
> wages to the people who help raise our babies. Think of who
> is willing to accept wages like that. Teenagers. Drunks (my
> catagory). People with no education and no hope of getting
> one. These are the people who are taking care of our kids,
> People. And we just let it happen. God forbid we should PAY
> a decent price to the people who are supposed to be keeping
> our children alive and healthy and hopefully happy during our
> hours away from home.
>
> An awful lot of children are injured or die of 'crib death' in
> their Day Cares every day. There's a reason for that. There
> are a LOT of reasons for that. And the blame lies squarely on
> the shoulders of Parents as a community, because we aren't
> willing to pay our children's caretakers what they should be
> worth, and then we complain when our children's caretakers turn
> out to be incompetent.
>
> Dani Koffee
>
> A mom who is really grateful she's able to stay home with her
> children now (and no, I don't drink anymore).
>
> --
> To reply, delete the words in my addy that define me as selfish.
Evan Perry
first-degree murder charge. Makes absolute sense to me.
Evan
Maggie <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20000131104147...@ng-fy1.aol.com...
> Mr. Mercier then shoved the girl, Detective Shelby said.
> "She struck her head on a wooden cabinet, went soaring through the air,
> according to his statement, and hit her head on a wooden table before
falling
> to the floor," Detective Shelby said.
> Police said Mr. Mercier continued to pick up toys while Megan lay slumped
under
> a table where she landed. When she did not move, he slapped her face
lightly
> five times and then harder a sixth time in an attempt to revive her,
Detective
> Shelby said.
Evan Perry
straits, a child can be taken to day-care. But in my opinion, a child
should only be raised by its parent. Not a stranger. Ideally...
Dani Koffee <kof...@got.my.own.net> wrote in message
news:Mzvl4.90$zW.1...@tw12.nn.bcandid.com...
WyrdWoman
>
> God forbid we should PAY a decent price to the people who
> are supposed to be keeping our children alive and healthy and
> hopefully happy during our hours away from home.
I agree with everything you said, but how do we change it? The thing
about child care is that people of every class need it, so it should be
affordable for those who are struggling. But I also think that there
should be better pay and training for the workers, so what do we do?
Would it help if the government was involved somehow? (I don't know --
just throwing it out there.) I'm thankful that either my daughter's
father or I are always home so that we don't have to put Freya in day
care, but what if I did? I would be sick with worry about something
happening to her, as did in this story.
On a related note, I was driving through a not-too-great section of town
on my way home, and I saw a handwritten sign on a telephone pole that
said: Child Care in my home, $2/hour. She would have to keep a dozen
kids at a time to make it worth her while! Scary stuff.
--
WyrdWoman
WyrdWoman
> Or perhaps that a parent should be raising the child. In dire
financial
> straits, a child can be taken to day-care. But in my opinion, a child
> should only be raised by its parent. Not a stranger. Ideally...
That's ideally the case, but there are numerous circumstances where day
care is a necessity. What if you're a single parent? You have to earn
a living somehow, and not everyone can work out of their home to stay
with their child.
I'll do everything within my power to keep my daughter out of day care,
though. I'd even move close to my mother if it came down to it. She's
been a real godsend for some of my class schedules in the past.
--
WyrdWoman
Osmo Ronkanen
Evan Perry <Evan...@Onramp.com> wrote:
>Or perhaps that a parent should be raising the child. In dire financial
>straits, a child can be taken to day-care. But in my opinion, a child
>should only be raised by its parent. Not a stranger. Ideally...
Why? A proper daycare with properly paid and trained workers is
better. Raising at home could have been good when families were large
but now when many families have only one child that is not good for the
child. Of course that requires that the society takes its share of the
expenses.
Also who would be raising the child? The woman? How would her loss
income and pension be compensated? What is I said that men should work
only if there was no other way for the family to make it.
Or then you can accept the fact that children are killed by untrained
care takers and then cry for longer prison terms and more executions as
if that would help anything.
Osmo
Osmo Ronkanen
Evan Perry <Evan...@Onramp.com> wrote:
>So the murderers of children over 6 would just get slapped with a
>first-degree murder charge. Makes absolute sense to me.
IMO it makes no sense. I the case there are only victims. Clearly the
man did not intend to kill the child. Punishing him like someone who
planned to kill someone and the did it makes no sense whatsoever.
If you think that by heavy punishment you can prevent such acts then you
are dead wrong.
Osmo
Hester Mofet
>
>
>In article <UtDl4.2973$d61....@news6.giganews.com>,
>Evan Perry <Evan...@Onramp.com> wrote:
>>Or perhaps that a parent should be raising the child. In dire financial
>>straits, a child can be taken to day-care. But in my opinion, a child
>>should only be raised by its parent. Not a stranger. Ideally...
>
>Why? A proper daycare with properly paid and trained workers is
>better. Raising at home could have been good when families were large
>but now when many families have only one child that is not good for the
>child. Of course that requires that the society takes its share of the
>expenses.
<snip>
Excuse me, Osmo, but there are plenty of happy, healthy, well adjusted only
children in the world. To say that it is not good for the child to be raised
without brothers and sisters smacks of ignorance. The environment surrounding
the child is far more important than the number of siblings the child has.
Hester Mofet
What if the Hokey Pokey *is* what it's all about?
Osmo Ronkanen
Hester Mofet <demo...@aol.comsnitfit> wrote:
>Osmo wrote:
>>
>>Why? A proper daycare with properly paid and trained workers is
>>better. Raising at home could have been good when families were large
>>but now when many families have only one child that is not good for the
>>child. Of course that requires that the society takes its share of the
>>expenses.
><snip>
>
>Excuse me, Osmo, but there are plenty of happy, healthy, well adjusted only
>children in the world. To say that it is not good for the child to be raised
>without brothers and sisters smacks of ignorance. The environment surrounding
>the child is far more important than the number of siblings the child has.
>
Did you read what I said? I said that it is good for the child to be
alone.
Osmo
Osmo Ronkanen
>large but now when many families have only one child that is not good for the
>there is only one child.
Meaning: it is not good for the child to be alone without no other children.
>There is a possibility I misunderstood your English if
>that wasn't what you meant to say.
Osmo
Maggie
>>>>>
>>>>>Why? A proper daycare with properly paid and trained workers is
>>>>>better. Raising at home could have been good when families were large
>>>>>but now when many families have only one child that is not good for
>the
>>>>>child. Of course that requires that the society takes its share of the
>>>>>expenses.
>>>><snip>
>>>>
Hester said:
>>>>Excuse me, Osmo, but there are plenty of happy, healthy, well adjusted
>only
>>>>children in the world. To say that it is not good for the child to be
>raised
>>>>without brothers and sisters smacks of ignorance. The environment
>>>surrounding
>>>>the child is far more important than the number of siblings the child
>has.
>>>>
Osmo said:
>>>Did you read what I said? I said that it is good for the child to be
>>>alone.
Hester siad:
>>No, what you said was "Raising at home could have been good when families
>were
>>large but now when many families have only one child that is not good
>for the
>>child." To me, that says that it's not good to raise your child at home
>when
>>there is only one child.
>
Osmo said:
>Meaning: it is not good for the child to be alone without no other children.
***Something is obviously getting lost in translation here and I can't figure
out what it is.
But Hester's right.
WyrdWoman
> > Meaning: it is not good for the child to be alone without no other
> > children.
>
> ***Something is obviously getting lost in translation here and I can't
> figure out what it is.
Maybe it's the double negative?
--
WyrdWoman