Boy Shaken By Caregiver Dies After Two Years On Life Support

Boy Shaken By Caregiver Dies After Two Years On Life Support

Ray Reyes

Tampa Bay Online

Dec. 1, 2008

TAMPA - Niccole Booze kept hoping. She knew it was improbable, but she never let go of the possibility her 3-year-old son would leave the Largo nursing home where he received medical care for much of his young life and one day return to his family.

"I had a dream that my son would be able to come home," Booze said at a news conference Monday in downtown Tampa. "That isn't going to happen now."

Her son, Lazon Gulley, died Friday night. He had been on life support and in a vegetative state for more than two years. In March 2006, his foster caregiver shook him and Lazon suffered a severe brain injury, authorities say.

The Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office charged the foster caregiver, Tenesia Brown, with aggravated child abuse on Nov. 1, 2006.

Booze's attorney, Darryl Rouson, said Monday he has asked the State Attorney's Office to investigate and determine if the charges against Brown can be upgraded to manslaughter or murder.

"It's time to move things forward," Rouson said. "There needs to be some closure."

Brown and her husband, Marcus, had custody of Lazon and his brother for nearly four months while Booze completed a drug treatment program. Brown picked up Lazon from the Circle of Children Day Care about 2:30 p.m. on March 3, 2006, after workers called to say the child was vomiting and had diarrhea, according to an affidavit.

Booze's caseworker called her that day and told her Lazon had stopped breathing at Brown's home. Doctors told Booze her child had severe brain damage and feared he would not live long.

In September 2006, Booze sued the Browns, along with the Sarasota Family YMCA and other agencies responsible for her son's care.

Brown's attorney, John Trevena, said the civil lawsuit is in the discovery process, and the pre-trial hearings for the criminal case are set for early 2009.

Trevena said his client was the last person in a chain of caregivers who was taking care of Lazon on March 3 and that is the reason prosecutors have focused on her.

Booze said she regularly visited Lazon at the Largo nursing home. She last saw him Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.

"It was something we always prepared for," Booze said of her child's death. "I'm upset. I wanted the best quality of life for him."