GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) – New details are emerging on how a 5-month-old baby boy died while at a registered child-care home in Georgetown. According to an arrest affidavit, Holly Harrison, 37, waited approximately 12 minutes from the time she found Brody Havins unresponsive until the time she called 9-1-1.
On the morning of Jan. 13, Harrison, owner of All About Kids day care, said she went to wake Brody from his nap at 10:30 a.m. but found him “pale, limp and non-responsive.” Harrison told police she took the baby to the living room, placed him on the couch and attempted CPR but she couldn’t revive him and that’s when she called for emergency help.
A review of the 9-1-1 tape recorded Harrison telling the dispatcher that she thought the baby had choked on his infant glove. While on the phone with the dispatcher, Harrison said she “could see a white infant glove in his mouth” and proceeded to remove it after the dispatcher directed her to do so.
An autopsy report showed the baby could not have swallowed the infant glove, because his “epiglottis was not large enough to allow it to pass,” as documented in the affidavit. The doctor doing the autopsy goes on to say if the child was choking on his infant glove, “the glove would have covered his airway, and simply removing the glove from his mouth would have allowed him to breath.”
Investigation: Underground day cares
During the investigation, police say Harrison sent her daughter a text message at 10:21 a.m. to come home from Georgetown High School. The call logs to 9-1-1 showed Harrison called dispatchers at 10:31 a.m. Harrison also told police she called and messaged her friend/employee prior to calling for emergency assistance. The employee verified with authorities that she received a call from Harrison at 10:17 a.m. to come help her.
When she arrived at the day care she asked where the paramedics were and Harrison informed her she hadn’t called them yet, continued in the court documents. At that point, the employee directed Harrison to call 9-1-1.
According to the affidavit, Harrison admitted she deleted phone calls from her cellphone call log in attempt to deceive investigators. She also confirmed to detectives she waited approximately 12 minutes from the time she found the baby until she called 9-1-1.
At the time of the incident, there were eight children in Harrison’s care-which was double the maximum children she was allowed to supervise as a registered child-care home. An investigator with the Texas Department of Family Protectives Services indicated All About Kids day care is only allowed to supervise four children under 17 months old, with no other children at one time-Harrison had five children under the age of 17 months.
Authorities say because there were too many children in her care, Harrison wasn’t able to “safely supervise” the children and did not seek emergency medical help in a “reasonable time” which lead to Brody’s death.
Harrison is charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence. She posted a $275,000 bond early Wednesday morning.
State records indicate the provider registered to be a child-care home in October 2015 after being cited for not having a permit in August 2015. Child Care Licensing says the day care voluntarily stopped caring for children while the investigation is ongoing.