Politics & Government

An Innocent Baby Dies in Bed-Stuy; Who's to Blame?

Should the ACS workers also be charged in the death of baby Marchella, or are the workers being used as a scapegoat? Bed-Stuy residents weigh in.

Last week, Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes announced the indictment of two former Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) employees, Damon Adams and Chereece Bell, in the death of four-year-old Marchella Brett-Pierce.

Baby Marchella, from Bed-Stuy, died last November from abuse and neglect at the hands of her mother Carlotta Pierce, under the watch of ACS employees Adams and Bell.

“Baby Marchella might be alive today, had these ACS workers attended to her case with the basic levels of care it deserved,” said Hynes.

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If convicted, Chereece Bell could face up to four years in prison; Damon Adams, up to seven years.

Many residents in Bed-Stuy praise the D.A.’s decision to finally hold the agency's workers fully responsible, while others say the workers are being used as a scapegoat, when the real problem lies within the ACS system as a whole.

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Peter Johnson, 41, of Bed-Stuy says that the D.A. is misguided, and that going after the workers sets a bad precedent.

“I think it’s enough that these individuals lost their jobs. For them now to be prosecuted and not have the funding they need for proper legal representation is not right,” said Johnson. “I think the D.A. is giving in to the pressure of things that are going on in the world. I think this case needs to be dismissed.”

Mellissa Danielle agrees with Johnson. She says the ACS system is the problem, not the workers, and that it is unfair to slap them with the possibility of jail time without addressing a larger problem:

“ACS has a history of being underfunded, overworked, understaffed and under-resourced,” Danielle said. “How do they expect these ACS workers to handle all those cases and so many hours? It’s just not rational.”

Other residents say it’s high-time to address accountability in the workplace, particularly when so much is at stake, like overseeing the lives of others.

“I agree with the decision to indict the workers, because they need to be held accountable; the entire agency needs to be held accountable, and they need to do this with a whole lot of city agencies,” said Tawanna Roberts, 41.

“I’m sorry, don’t get me started… When they go and find nothing going on in the home, and you turn around the child is found dead, then who’s to blame? I mean come on, someone’s not doing their job.”

“Four years old, and 18 pounds? That is horrible; that’s unacceptable,” said Nicole Taylor, 32. “It all boils down to the fact that somebody has to be responsible. Are we going to say, ‘Oh, ACS is off the hook, because they have a culture of being screwed up?’ I say, prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”

Still, others feel that it is not a black-and-white issue, and that each case should be handled differently, depending upon the situation.

“It depends on the case,” said Jimmy Crawford, 41. “You can’t just blame the ACS workers, because the abuse started in the home.”

“I think cases like these should be judged on a case-by-case basis, and I feel in this case, those ACS workers should be held accountable,” said Christine Gillette, 25. “Because it’s really troublesome to think that something like that could happen to any child when it could have been prevented. And if it was my child, I’d want the most to be done about it.”

In the end, particularly when it comes to the life of an innocent, four-year-old child, there seems to be plenty of blame to go around.

“It’s like, yes, this little girl is dead. And there is someone to blame for it. It’s a difficult situation,” said Danielle. “But instead of attacking these individual people, why can’t we pull back, look at it holistically, see what is flawed and make changes throughout the entire system?”


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