Those of us at Romanucci & Blandin were stunned to read about the death of a 16-month-old boy who died from a severe brain fracture on January 12, the result of his being thrown to the floor by a 22-year-old teacher’s assistant in a Lincolnshire, Illinois, daycare center. Any catastrophic injury is tragic, but when the victim is a baby, it’s all the more egregious.

Initially, it was believed that the child died from a seizure, but further investigation by authorities revealed that the assistant, who was supposed to be caring for him, allegedly threw the child to the floor because she felt he was misbehaving. After being thrown, the boy grabbed his blanket and crawled to a bouncy chair, where he died. (The fact that the child could crawl after the accident is not unusual. It takes time for swelling and bleeding in the brain to become fatal.)

The daycare center where the accident took place was considered first-rate and had no record of any previous complaints of mistreatment. The teacher’s assistant has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held on $5 million bond.