A prime contractor for the Alabama Department of Personnel Affairs was charged after a 3-year-old boy under state custody died in a hot car last month.
Kera Stanford announced on Friday that Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Kerr had announced.
“This is a terrible tragedy that was completely avoidable and unnecessary. Our pale dol’s opinion comes to the Ketorius family,” Kerr wrote in the release.
Bessemer’s Ke’torrius “KJ” Starkes Jr. was found alone in the car at his Birmingham home Tuesday night. The vehicle was removed and the window was wound up when Starks was found, according to the Jefferson County Coroner’s office.
The coroner’s office said Starks had been in the vehicle for about five hours before he died shortly after 6pm.
The Birmingham Police Department said Starks was accidentally left in the vehicle while caring for third-party contract workers through the Alabama Department of Personnel. Since being identified as Kera Stanford, the person has been taken to question him and has been supportive, police said.
The child was taken from the nursery for a supervised visit with her father, according to Courtney French, a family lawyer. When the visit ended at 11:30 that morning, instead of bringing the child back to day care, the lawyers alleges that Stanford ran errands back home, leaving the child in a parked car.
“A child in DHR custody was being transported by the contract provider when the incident occurred,” a DHR spokesperson said in a statement. “The provider has terminated the employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot further comment on the identity of the child or the exact situation.”
Stanford was booked to the Jefferson County Jail early Friday morning and released on bonds some time later, Nexter Wiat reported. If convicted, she could face two to 20 years behind the bar.
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