Heartbroken mom wants answers after 2-year-old chokes to death on meatball at daycare: ‘I just know something's wrong'

Independent

2 days ago

A grieving mother has demanded answers after her two-year-old son choked to death on a meatball while at a Connecticut daycare, despite staff reassuring her that the child was fine.
Shamyra Cooke says claims by the YWCA New Britain that they had followed the correct procedure during the tragic incident were 'a slap to my face' and that she had known immediately something was wrong.
'There is no way I can bury my son without answers. This is just too much for a person. My son barely got a chance to live,' she told reporters.
Cooke said she had dropped her son, Saunti Reynolds, off at daycare at 8:55 a.m. Tuesday, but received a call from the center's director less than three hours later saying that he had choked on a meatball.
The director had told Cooke that her son was fine but that she needed to come back to the daycare, she told a press conference. When she arrived, EMT staff were already on the scene and Saunti had already been intubated.
First responders were performing CPR, but despite reassurance from the director of the center, who gave her a hug, she knew something was wrong.
"When they're closing the door like that, I just know something's wrong. There's no way my son is breathing if they're closing the door and blinds are down," she said.
Cooke told reporters that she lives only three minutes away from the daycare center and, as a hospital worker herself, could have done something to save her child if she had been alerted sooner.
'Even if they didn't know how to do the Heimlich, I work in a hospital, I could do it. I could get it out and no one called to even give me that chance,' Cooke said. 'No one gave me no chance to even get to my son.'
The Independent has reached out to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, which is now investigating the incident, for comment, as well as YWCA New Britain.
In a statement to News 8, Doreen Chudoba, the director of fundraising and communication with YWCA, said, 'There are no words to fully express the sorrow we feel, and we extend our deepest, most heartfelt condolences to the child's parents, family, and loved ones. We are holding them close in our hearts during this unimaginably painful time.'
Chudoba said that staff had responded 'immediately and followed all emergency procedures, including administering age-appropriate first aid and calling 911,' adding that 'emergency services were contacted, and the child's family was immediately notified and involved throughout the process.
'The child was then taken via ambulance to the nearest hospital. Unfortunately, we learned the devastating news that the child passed away.'
However, Cooke disputes the YWCA's statement, arguing that if she had been contacted in time, her son may still be alive.
'For them to even have the audacity to say they talked to me the whole process through … is a slap to my face,' Cooke said.