April 17, 2008

The 39 year old woman who was called “Grandma” by the toddler who died in her care was charged yesterday with manslaughter, cruelty to persons, and risk of injury to a minor. Twenty-three month old Amari Johnson was pronounced dead upon arrival at Yale New Haven Hospital on February 26 of this year at 6:56 AM after spending more than week in the care of Sharon Patterson and her brother Robert Patterson, who was also charged with cruelty to persons and risk of injury to a minor.
According to Sarah Hicks, she left her son, Amari Johnson, in the care of Peterson, when she was sick with a fever and tonsillitis. Struggling to care for herself and another infant, she left her son in the care of her long time friend.
Sharon Patterson paints another picture:
. . . she watched Amari for two weeks in February, and that it wasn’t the first time Hicks dropped him off because she wanted to party.
While in Sharon and Robert Patterson’s care, Amari was deprived of all liquids, ostensibly to punish him for bed wetting. More bizarrely, glasses of water laced with hot sauce were left around the apartment to discourage the child from taking liquids. Sharon Patterson admitted to the police to smoking marijuana and drinking the day before Amari’s death.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Sharon Patterson said she was frustrated with Hicks for not coming by and checking on Amari or bringing him any clothes or food. “She was planning on depriving Amari Jackson of liquids for a week and didn’t realize that Amari could get sick by dehydration,” the document said.
Patterson previously lost custody of four children because of drug addiction.
Heartbreakingly,
Robert Patterson told police that the boy cried for his mother when he began staying with him and his sister, but “towards the end of his stay Amari was crying for something to drink.”
What can astrology tell us about the brief life and shocking death of this child?
(more…)