Mother indicted on manslaughter charges over the exposure death of her son in playground swing
A Maryland woman found pushing her dead son on a playground swing has been indicted on manslaughter, child abuse and child neglect charges.
Romechia Simms, 24, was arraigned Monday in Charles County Circuit Court, the Associated Press reports.
Simms was arrested in May after sheriff’s deputies found her pushing her dead 3-year-old son, Ji’Aire Donnell Lee, on a playground swing in La Plata. Deputies found the boy’s jacket in the trash and his shoes off his feet, filled with rainwater. She had reportedly been pushing her child in the swing for two days straight, according to the AP. The medical examiner said the boy died of dehydration and hypothermia, and ruled the death a homicide.
At her arraignment Monday, prosecutors said they wanted Simms to undergo a mental evaluation. They also said she is a danger and a flight risk.
But Simms said she was not a danger to anybody. “I didn’t even mean for this to happen,” the Associate Press quotes her as saying.
Earlier this year, the boy’s father had petitioned a court for custody of his son, saying Simms was behaving erratically and had jumped out of a moving taxi. Simms acknowledged having had a mental breakdown, but insisted she was doing OK. Simms’ mother Vontasha Simms told reporters that her daughter had begun taking medication for mental-health problems a few months earlier.
A judge ordered Simms held on $150,000 bail and scheduled a January trial date.
