
Inset left: Winter Jones (Obituary). Inset middle: Sabrina Powe (Shelby County Sheriff's Office). Inset right: Tametria Norry (Shelby County Sheriff's Office). Background: Kid University in Memphis, Tenn. (Google Maps).
Childcare workers in Tennessee who were supposed to take a girl to school left her inside a vehicle, where she died, authorities say.
Sabrina Powe, 43, and Tametria Norry, 49, are in the Shelby County Jail on charges of aggravated child neglect, criminally negligent homicide, and destruction of and tampering with governmental records.
A third worker, Amilya Hardin, was also indicted in the death of 6-year-old Winter Jones, NBC affiliate WMC reported.
On the morning of Aug. 13, Winter was dropped off at Kid University in Memphis. She was apparently supposed to be taken to Macon-Hall Elementary School.
However, she was not.
That afternoon, the girl was found unresponsive in a van outside the childcare building. Authorities say she was left inside. She was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime.
Norry was reportedly the driver of the vehicle, while Powe is assistant director of Kid University and Hardin is an assistant at the daycare.
Following the news of Winter's death, the Tennessee Department of Human Services investigated Kid University. The agency found that the daycare was not following several transportation requirements, according to the TV station.
The employees reportedly were not following vehicle inspection procedures after children were unloaded, and the transportation log was not completed accurately. Furthermore, authorities said necessary walk-throughs to make sure all children were off the vehicle were not done.
The temperature was in the high 90s that day, according to National Weather Service data reviewed by WMC.
Winter had autism. Her father said the situation is an "absolute nightmare" and happened because of "people who were too busy doing nothing to where they couldn't make sure Winter was taken care of properly."
Nakia Cloman, Winter's mother, said she got a phone call from the daycare that day.
One worker apparently said, "Winter was left on the bus" and "She's barely breathing."
It is not yet clear when the defendants are due in court.
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