Oct. 10--A Chicago mother whose infant daughter died after she allegedly left the girl unattended in an overheated room has been cleared of child endangerment charges by a Cook County judge.
Erica Hampton, 27, was charged after neighbors found the 7-month-old dead, strapped into a car seat in her snowsuit and left atop a bunk bed on a cold December day in 2013. Hampton's baby, Lamya, and her two older daughters, then 6 and 2, had been left alone in the West Side apartment for the third time in 10 days, prosecutors said.
A medical examiner testified at trial that the child had died of a respiratory virus infection but that dehydration and poor hygiene had been contributing factors, said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office.
Judge Carol Howard ruled Wednesday that Hampton had not caused Lamya's death by leaving her alone in the car seat, acquitting her of the felony child endangerment charges, Daly said.
Hampton and her family either could not be reached or declined to comment on the decision by the judge after a bench trial that played out off and on since June.
A review of court, hospital, police and state records by the Tribune in late 2013 found that opportunities to intervene before Lamya's death may have been missed because of a lack of communication among police, medical and child welfare officials. A pediatrician who saw Lamya that October did not report signs of malnourishment to the state Department of Children and Family Services even though the physician diagnosed the baby with "failure to thrive" because of improper feeding and Hampton didn't return in a month as the doctor instructed.
A police officer who responded to the home in the Lawndale neighborhood one day after Hampton had been gone for hours left the children with a neighbor. A police spokesman later insisted officers saw no signs of neglect and that neighbors had reported none.
Neighbors testified at trial that they tried to help take care of the children, watching and feeding them and even buying diapers to keep the working mother from getting in trouble.
One neighbor, Melanie Glover, said she heard a knock on her door on Dec. 11, 2013, and opened it to find Hampton's 2-year-old. As she fed the toddler cereal, the girl's older sister arrived.
The two went to the apartment of Glover's cousin, Stacey Curry, in the same complex in the 3700 block of West 13th Street, according to trial testimony.
"(Glover) was saying, 'Something's wrong, something's wrong,'" Curry testified. "The oldest girl said to me the baby was dead."
Glover testified she grew worried when they couldn't find Lamya in her crib. Both women testified the bedroom containing Lamya was much hotter than the rest of the apartment.
The two women noticed on a bunk bed a car seat on its side covered with a blanket. Curry said she found no pulse.
Hampton was arrested less than 30 minutes later about two blocks from the apartment. Prosecutors said she admitted leaving the children so she could go to the store and pick up her paycheck.
She had previously left the children home alone on Dec. 1 and 9, according to neighbors. The last time the 6-year-old knocked on Glover's door after she and her younger sister grew hungry and neither could reach a box of cereal that had been left in the apartment.
An officer found an empty fridge and "only baby food on the windowsill," records show. Glover later told DCFS that the officer told her she could keep the children or they could accompany him out in the cold and wait at the police station until DCFS or family arrived.
She decided to keep the children.
Two days later, Lamya was found dead in her apartment.
sschmadeke@tribpub.com
