Latest / Chuck Douglas / Child crisis in Columbus

Transcript

Child crisis in Columbus · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I have spent a great deal of time on these
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: here airwaves, ranting and raving asking what it is you
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: have to do to go to jail, because it seems
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: like you apparently break in well breaking into the courthouse.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: But I am I'm gonna say, I am glad this
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is a serious subject here. I am glad that they
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: are pursuing murder charges against Billy Joe Tustin. This was
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: that story a couple of weeks ago, eleven o'clock news
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: came on. They showed up the you know, the the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: police and fire crews in front of the house. Nine
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: month old baby passed away. Mom threw him across the room.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: According to the charges filed in the courts again, thirty
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: year old Billy Joe Tustin charged with aggravated murder and murder,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: along with previous charges including felonious assault and endangering children.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Investigator said she threw her infant about fifteen feet oh God,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: onto his head last Wednesday night at an apartment along
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: North fourth Street and Italian Village. I don't have never
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and will never understand any soob that hurts a child,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: but mothers, it's even more difficult for me to understand
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you created this, You brought life to this little being.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I I have never been able to understand it. In
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a nine to eleven call obtained by ABC six, Tusting
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to be heard telling this dispatcher's my nine month old
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: isn't breathing. It's unclear how long Tustin waited to contact
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: emergency crews after allegedly assaulting her son. Police at Tustin's
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: three year old daughter also was in the home when
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the alleged sault occurred, but was not harmed. Her boyfriend
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: told ABC six that he lives with Tustin and her children,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: and he is being charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering children.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know to what extent that's that's going to happen,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: he said. He lives there, but I don't know what
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: he might have done. Neighbors who live along Fourth Street
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: expressed shocked that the neighbor could allegedly commit such a
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: violent act on her own child. Well, I agree with that.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: I'm frustrated when someone does something to someone that is
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: so innocent, said one neighbor to hear that she was
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: spank slapped, launched, and thrown. I can't even imagine what
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: a three year old probably has endured before something like
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: this happened. I don't even know. She didn't even know
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: she had a second child, because she never comes out
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and no one knows her. Franklin County Children's Services the
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: most useless organization on the government planet. Franklin County Children
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Did I say that out loud? Confirmed that it had again,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: here we go prior involvement with the family. How many
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: dead children will there be before their prior involvement actually
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: results in maybe taking children away from situations where they
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: end up like this. Officials said that Tustin was attempting
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to end her affiliation with the agency before Wednesday's assault. Duh,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: really her three year old daughters now and Children's Services customer?
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: What is a six six in recent history? Here six
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: children that are dead, all of which had some involvement
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: with Franklin County Children's Services, but were left in dangerous
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: situations and not rescued. I'm serious. Somebody needs to ask
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: some very hard questions about the oversight, the governance, the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: mission of Franklin County Children's Services, because honestly, it seems
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to me that they don't do anything except up, you know,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: get involved to put their name on something and then
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: close the case and move on, and then we get
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: a story like this this case. The story continues from
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: WSYX continues among growing concerns about the connection between mental
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: health crises and child abuse. According to court records, twenty
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: year old Hunter Dalton allegedly assault his two month old
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: baby after he couldn't find his vape. Just last month,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Allison was talking about it. I don't again, what the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: hell really you think the two year old had your vape?
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: It's the two year old behind the crib getting a
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: little nicotine, you morn. Thirty year old Danielle Neil arrested
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: after police said that he killed his son by throwing
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: him to the ground after he made a mess. Children
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: have been known to do that. You saka crap. According
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: to the National Children's Alliance, more than five hundred and
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: fifty thousand children are reported as being abused in the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: US every year. FCCS defended its process, but says the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: community and caretakers must play a larger role. Shut the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: hell up the community, you you frankly county children's services
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: that have all been you can walk up to somebody's
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: door and take children whenever you feel like it. You
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: can issue orders, you can have investigations, you can do
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: all that, but caretakers in the community must play a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: larger role. Either do it or get off the pot.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: And of course, what's children's services, say Scott Varner, which
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: is it's not about pointing blame. Yes, Scott, yes it is.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: But as a community we have to ask what can
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: we do better to help families avoid crises that put
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: kids at risk. Here's an idea, Scott. When the crazy
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: mama and the crazy daddy are a danger to the children,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: take the children out of the home. How about that.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Our caseworkers are not police officers. We rely on those
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: who are around them to share information. And they share
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the information and your caseworker goes, can I come in?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: And the crazy parent goes hell no, and the caseworker
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: goes away, and then dead child in the news. So
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: perhaps you need to up your game, Scott. I'm sorry, man,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: but when it comes to protecting children, if we can't
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: get that right, we can't get anything right. They only
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: exist because we create them. They should be precious, they
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: should be valued above all else, and here we are
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: sacrificing them at the altar of insanity on a fairly
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: regular basis, and the organization that is entrusted and charged
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: with protecting the interest of the children says we were
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: not police officers. We need to have the community. The
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: community has to step out and be really. I used to. Actually,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I was a big supporter of Franklin County Children's Services.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: At the holidays, I was working on a FM station.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: I would go to a toy drive and broadcasts for
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: like twelve hours from their facility over on frank Road
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: to try to get toys donated for all the kids
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: that were stuck in the system during Christmas, that weren't
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: in foster homes, that weren't with families, that were in
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: some group communal situation within Franklin County each other's versus.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: I tried to help, and I almost regret that now,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: except for the fact that maybe I made a few
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: kids smile.