HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: Authorities have arrested a Connecticut mother following a tragic incident where her 2-year-old son fell from a third-story window and died on Monday, July 24. Tabitha Frank was taken into custody and later released after posting a $100,000 bond on Monday morning. She now faces 10 counts of risk of injury to a child, as reported by the Hartford Police Department.
The charges were brought in response to the incident in which her toddler fell from a window in an apartment located in the West Boulevard Historic District neighborhood over the weekend, according to police Lt. Aaron Boisvert, who spoke to USA Today. Boisvert revealed that Frank had left five juveniles, all under the age of 12, "unattended" in her apartment before the incident occurred. He also described the living conditions of the apartment as "deplorable and uninhabitable" at the time the children were left alone.
Who is Tabitha Frank?
Not a lot is known about Frank, except she is a 34-year-old woman from Hartford, Connecticut. She was arrested after her 2-year-old son fell from a third-story window. According to Boisvert, when law enforcement arrived at the scene on Saturday afternoon, July 22, they found the child unconscious. He was immediately taken to Connecticut Children's Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. The Connecticut Department of Children and Families has been informed of the incident and is conducting an independent investigation into the matter.
Frank's son, whose first name was Cornelius, suffered severe head trauma including multiple skull fractures and bleeding in his brain. Following the incident, the four other children who were discovered alone at home were taken into the custody of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). According to Frank's attorney, Wesley Spears, she had been working as an Uber driver when she left the 2-year-old boy and his siblings unattended at home.
'It was just a horrific accident'
While the investigation is ongoing, "the child’s siblings are safe and being provided supportive services to address the trauma they have experienced," said Ken Mysogland, a spokesperson for DCF. The state's Office of the Child Advocate said they are currently in the process of reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident. As per guidelines set by the DCF, the decision of whether children can be left home alone safely is typically left to the parents' judgment. However, officials have emphasized that children around the age of the 2-year-old boy who fell from the window are particularly vulnerable to harm when left unsupervised.
"We know children under the age of 3 years are the most vulnerable in our society and require the closest and consistent supervision by caretakers," he said in a statement. Frank, Spears said, "was terribly distraught" and "destroyed" over her son’s fatal fall and the loss of custody. "It was just a horrific accident," he added.
