The death of the three-year-old takes place in the Park Hills Daycare-Daily Journal online

On May 16, the shocking death of three -year -old Conrad Ashcraft in Poppy's Playhouse in Park Hills left a family in mourning and the surrounding community in outrage.

Family members told Daily Journal that Conrad was a non -verbal child with autism. They said that Tara Williams arrived at the Mitchell daycare center at around 4.15 p.m. on Friday to pick up their son as usual, and the employees stated that he was still slept from his lunch nickro. She found it on the floor near a bathroom, covered with a weighted ceiling, in a susceptible position. When she stretched out to wake him up and revolved it, his body was stiff, his skin was cold and he did not breathe. The family member said that the child's arms and face had already become a dark purple discoloration, which points out that Conrad had died for more than several hours.

Other parents also arrived to pick up their children and watched how the tragic drama developed. The mother started screaming, and the staff began to scream and cry. Someone ran to the other building for the director/owner Spring Gray, who proved to call the employee 911, while it started life -saving efforts with an automated external defibrillator (AED).

An eyewitness said that the police and EMS had arrived within minutes and hurried to assess the situation. The witness said that a paramedic went out of the building with Conrad in his arms, and the child was immediately taken to an ambulance. The mother called family members who lived nearby and were able to be with her within a few minutes.

A family member said that they belonged part of a conversation between a law enforcement officer and a day of day care centers. The official asked for markings or impressions on the boy's lower body. The employee allegedly said that the boy didn't want to do his lunch nod, so they covered him with the weighted blanket and held his legs on the floor until he was still. According to information from the Daily Journal, interviews with parents of children who are enrolled at Poppy's, this is a common practice in the facility and is most frequently employed by a certain employee. In other interviews with parents who asked their children about the events of the day, they all reported that “Conrad was in difficulties to make his nap”, and the employee was either “on him” or “kept him down with her legs”.

Conrad was accepted by the employees that he was sleeping on the floor for about three or four hours until his mother arrived to discover him. During this time, other children were in the daycare center around him, some nodded on the ground near him and later experienced the arrival of law enforcement and rescue doctors who “took their friend into the ambulance”.

There are many unanswered questions related to the child's death. As a result, information on the obvious abuse of children as well as questionable guidelines and procedures at the Desloge and Park Hills are viewed. It is known that an autopsy is being carried out to build a cause of death, and the prosecution opened an investigation into the child's death. The Ministry of Elementary and Secondary Schooling, Childhood Office, compliance with childcare and regulation offer the providers of childcare providers an official supervision. You will carry out your investigation in connection with the law enforcement authorities or regardless of other agencies.

Immediately after learning death, the Daily Journal tried to turn with Gray, but did not receive an answer to the request for an explanation. One parent whose child visits the early children's program Park Hills, said two communication that Director Gray sent to all parents via a communication platform called Procare.

In the first to be sent on Friday evening, I am sure that many of them on social media have seen that Poppy in Poppy in the Popplate building has given a medical emergency. At this point we cannot respond to further details, but please trust that my employees have taken all the protocol measures and we will thank.

The second message that was sent on Saturday said: “I apologize for not getting a message to all my parents earlier. With the events taken yesterday, I was just next to myself and I couldn't think clearly. As you know, a medical emergency occurred yesterday at our preschool.

Coplin Funeral Home will take over burial arrangements. The family has not applied for it, but Community members who want to make financial contributions to Conrad's final expenditure can do so directly to the funeral home or at any location of the state community bank on the “Conrad Ashcraft Benefit Account”. Several fundraisers are planned and this information will be passed on because the Daily Journal can check it.

This is a developing story. The names of people who provide information are held back to protect their privacy. The Daily Journal conducts research and information collecting and publishing updates as soon as new information is available.

Lisa Brotherton-Barnes is a daily diary and Farmington Press Staff Writer. It can be reached at larnes@dailyjournalonline.com.