Man Blames Child's Death on Rough-Housing With Friends

With a tall stack of solid conclusions hanging over him, John A. Tinkler of Albany, NY and his defense attorneys are relying on another idea to explain the recent death of a three year old child: that the young girl probably brought the life-threatening injury on herself.

Tinkler was watching his and girlfriend Gloria Sandercox' five children one afternoon when all of a sudden one of the children, a three-year-old girl, started acting funny and vomiting. Tinkler believes the youngster may have even hit her head so hard in the bathroom that she was knocked unconscious. 

But when the police arrived, the scene told a different story.  The little girl had sustained a deadly bruise to her stomach cavity that seems to be consistent with an adult either punching or kicking her in the stomach.  Later, the coroner's report would confirm that the bruise was sustained shortly before death.   

At first, Tinkler made it sound like the little girl may have fallen and hurt her head. Times Union now reports that his defense attorney says play caused the child's fatal injuries - seeking to place blame for her untimely death on rough-housing. The defense lies in the possibility that perhaps another child had pushed the three-year-old in the stomach or into a hard object. Continuing with their defense, Tinkler's attorneys have also pointed to the extensive amount of play equipment in the backyard, along with the various tree stubs, which would have made it easy for the little girl to fall and injure herself earlier in the day.

If you would like to read more about this story, or if you believe that a child you love has suffered at the hands of an abusive guardian, we urge you to contact any one of our Kansas City child injury and accident lawyers for help.  The attorneys at Roswold Law Group are committed to protecting children, and we can help you.