FLINT AREA -- The Mid-Michigan community is in shock as one toddler is dead and another is fighting to survive in two unrelated cases of what appear to be fathers abusing their children.
Neighbors say they could hear a little boy’s cries and screams coming from a town house in Flint on July 3rd. They tell NBC25 that they’d heard possible signs of abuse before. "I saw the child, several times he looked scared for his life,” a neighbor named Angela told NBC25 Thursday. This time, though, Angela said she couldn’t just stand by. “The baby was crying for help and she was beating him or throwing him down the steps or whatever,” Angela described. So, she called 911 - an act that may have saved this child’s life.
Police arrived at the scene, and soon realized that the 2-year-old boy had been beaten, and had wounds from what appeared to be from a baseball bat. The child’s father, 37-year-old Michael Wilkinson, has now been charged with First Degree Child Abuse and faces 15 year behind bars if found guilty. Flint Police are looking for Wilkerson’s girlfriend, 25-year-old Gwendolyn Lorraine Thomas, who also faces First Degree Child Abuse charges in the case.
Friends and family of this little boy are now accepting donations at the River Park Townhouses Community Center.
Sadly, another child’s similar story didn’t end with a rescue.
On the same day, July 3rd, police were called to a home on Donal Drive in Flint Township for reports of a little 2-year-old girl not breathing.
When they arrived, they found little Tiarra Woodward, with what appeared to be human bite marks and signs of beatings all over her body. They rushed her to Hurley Hospital, but it was too late. She passed away.
Now, Tiarra’s dad, 21-year-old Donovan Lamar Haynes, has been charged in connection to her death. If found guilty, he faces life in prison without parole.
Law enforcement officials around Mid-Michigan all have the same reverberating theme: you can help prevent cases like this. Fortunately, Angela stepped up and called 911 before it was too late. Perhaps if someone had reported Tiarra’s abuse, she too could have been rescued.
If you believe a child is being abused, you can call the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD, or you can contact your local police.
