Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Manuel Garcia Beats Jovani Martinez, 2, to Death for Spilling His Milk
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 11:46 am
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He threw the toddler onto a mattress, but Jovani got back up. So Garcia began to pummel him, punching him in the kidneys, stomach and chest.
Mother Lawanda Martinez would later take the boy to visit his grandma, Wanda Williams, in Racine, Wisconsin that day. Grandma noticed that Jovani was barely conscious, kept falling, couldn't stand up on his own and was shaking. She urged Martinez to take Jovani to the the hospital.
But mom said he always acted this way and took him home. She gave him Tylenol that evening. But by 11:30, she noticed that his body had gone cold and his lips blue.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, Jovani's kidney's were failing. He wouldn't survive. A pathologist discovered that his intestines were perforated, his liver and pancreas were lacerated, and he had broken ribs. This wasn't something that could be caused by accident.
Garcia, 40, has now been charged with reckless homicide. Martinez, 23, is charged with neglect of a child causing death.
See our last story about child abuse: Sergio Diaz-Palomino Took Photos of Himself Sodomizing Son to Walgreens.
Tags: Wisconsin

