A routine morning at day care turned deadly for an 11-month-old boy on Monday, June 15 after he fell headfirst into a seven-gallon mop bucket at his babysitter’s Richmond Hill home.
The child, James Daniel Farrior, of Richmond Hill, was declared dead at Jamaica Hospital at 11:25 a.m. His babysitter, Krystal Khan, 28, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a police spokesperson said.
Reports said that Farrior was with Khan’s two children in the living room of the 101-27 108th Street home with the bucket when Khan left the room to get a mop. When she returned, Farrior was headfirst in the three-quarters-full bucket, according to the reports.
The medical examiner has yet to determine whether drowning, impact from the fall, or some other cause led to the boy’s death.
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – which, like the Police Department, is continuing its investigation – preliminary information indicates that the 101-27 108th Street location may have been considered an informal care arrangement not requiring a permit or license.
New York State Office of Child and Family Services rules require providers who care for three or more unrelated children to obtain a license or registration, and Khan reportedly cared for just two neighborhood children, along with her own son and daughter.
Neighbors, shocked at the news, said the two-story home on a nondescript residential block drew little attention prior to Monday’s tragedy.
“To be honest, this is the first time I have seen anyone in that house. I only saw the [day care] sign today,” said an area resident who declined to give her name. The woman added that she would not leave her kids “in a place like that.”
Another neighbor who identified herself as Spozhmi said she saw the Fire Department remove Farrior from the house.
“He was pale and wet. The firefighter was holding him but he was limp,” she recalled.
While Spozhmi noted that she had not heard any complaints regarding the day care facility in the past, she said that she, too, would have never left her own kids there.
“This is a very friendly neighborhood, every house on this block has at least one child. I don’t know why they were so careless,” she said.
–With additional reporting by Nick Costales
