CLEVELAND (WJW) - – Video released to the FOX 8 I-Team sheds new light on the investigation into the death of a young child.
Police body camera video from June 14 show officers responding to a store in Cleveland, moments after people called 911 saying the child was in distress.
A woman told officers the mother came up to people in the store and asked to use their phones.
“We all called 911,” the woman told police. She said another man started CPR.
“I was trying to search for a pulse,” the woman said. “He didn’t have a pulse since he got here.”
She and another man said the 3-year-old’s mother, Timmeka Eggleton, told them the boy fell. Police detectives have said they do not believe the mother was honest with them about what happened to the young boy, named Curtis.
Curtis was pronounced dead at the hospital. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Eggleton’s death a homicide, saying he died of blunt force trauma.
Eggleton has been indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury and is facing several charges, including aggravated murder. She has entered not guilty pleas to the charges and a pretrial is scheduled for Thursday.
Curtis was with a foster family for the first two and a half years of his life. His foster family told the I-Team they wanted to adopt him and they were concerned about his safety if he was sent back to live with his biological mother.
But in July of 2022, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Judge Alison Floyd granted custody to Eggleton, even though at that time she was currently on a diversion program in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court for grand theft. Judge Floyd has not returned our calls asking to discuss the case.
Records show, in March, Judge Floyd gave Curtis back to his biological mother permanently and terminated supervision.
Attorney Russ Gates, who was the attorney appointed to represent Curtis, filed a motion in court asking the judge to continue the hearing in March, saying Eggleton is “denying” his ability to investigate the child’s circumstances.
“The child’s mother, Timmeka Eggleton, on March 8, 2023, called me and stated I would not be permitted into her house. I was to visit with the child outside only. I was to be accompanied by someone else and all visits must be pre-arranged; i.e., unannounced visits are not permitted,” Gates’ motion states. “The mother was verbally abusive, beyond what is typical, speaking in a very insulting and demeaning manner, as well as swearing and being dishonest. She also stated I was not to speak to her of anything she did not want to discuss; it was not clear if she meant permanently or just on that call.”
Gates further noted in the motion he was concerned about the mother’s “abusive, unstable behavior” being directed at the children.
LaTorya Witcher, Curtis’ aunt, says she wants justice for her nephew .