A St. Paul foster-care provider has been charged in connection with the July 2 death of a developmentally disabled 18-month-old girl who was left unattended in a bathtub at the family's home.
Daniel L. Wright, 50, was charged this week in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree manslaughter, felony child endangerment and felony child neglect in the death of Brianna Rose Jackson. His first court appearance is set for Feb. 23.
It's fairly unusual to charge the latter two counts as felonies. In Ramsey County, child endangerment was charged six times in 2009, all as gross misdemeanors. In Washington County, three child-neglect cases and one child-endangerment case were charged as gross misdemeanors last year.
Wright and his wife, Barbara, had provided foster care for up to five children since 2002.
According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Wright told police that he'd been giving Brianna and her 3-year-old brother a bath in the master bedroom's whirlpool tub the morning of July 1. He left Brianna by herself when he took the boy out and went into the adjoining bedroom to dry him off and get him dressed.
Wright said Brianna was "splashing about" in the tub when he left her.
A few minutes later, Barbara Wright's son, Mitchell Azariah, then 20, found Brianna underwater and unresponsive. He yelled for his mother and ran upstairs to her, where Barbara Wright, a registered nurse, began CPR.
When police arrived at the home in the 1600 block of Darlene Street, the bathtub had been drained. There was, however, a ring 16 to 18 inches up and some human feces in the drain.
Brianna was taken to St. Paul Children's Hospital. She died the next morning. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office ruled the manner of her death was accidental, said chief investigator Don Gorrie. If investigators get more evidence, that could change, he said.
No one answered the phone or the door at the Wrights' home Wednesday. Although officers who responded to a call to their home in the summer of 2008 noted that the "residence was clean and all three of the children inside ... appeared clean and cared for," that wasn't the case on July 1.
"The house was in general disarray with clothes strewn about, food lying around, toys on the floor, couch, chairs and small tables," the complaint said. "The air smelled of dirty diapers. In the kitchen, officers observed dirty dishes and old food on the tables, the counters and in the sink. There was garbage piled on the corner."
Police records show 14 calls to the Wrights' house in five years. On June 4, 2008, Barbara Wright called 911 "continually." She was seemingly frantic after her husband left the house to "cool down" after an argument and said she was "emotionally unable to care for the children" when alone, police said.
Other police calls to the home have "run the gamut" from domestic-related calls to theft from auto to curfew violations, police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell said.
The complaint filed this week said Brianna had a history of seizures because of a "nonaccidental traumatic head injury" inflicted when she was 4 months old. The Ramsey County Attorney's office could not find any evidence Wednesday that anyone was charged in that incident.
Brianna was in a special education program through the St. Paul schools. Her teacher, Julie Revoir, said Daniel Wright was well aware of the girl's limitations. While Brianna was able to sit on her own and could crawl, she had balance problems and couldn't yet pull herself up to standing, the complaint said.
The case against Wright is being handled by a prosecutor from the Washington County Attorney's office to avoid a conflict of interest. Brianna was placed in the Wrights' care by Ramsey County child protection. It was unclear how many foster children the Wrights had when Brianna died. They have not had any since then.
Staff writers Mary Lynn Smith and Jim Durkin contributed to this report. Pat Pheifer • 612-741-4992
