ELYRIA — When he was 8 months old, Jayden Davidson died a violent death.

But he didn’t have to, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court that accuses

Jayden’s doctor of failing to report signs of child abuse on the dead boy and his older brother.

Dennis O’Toole, who represents Jordan’s court-appointed guardian, Matthew Dooley, said Dr. Samuel Getachew had a legal obligation to report the abuse he was treating the two boys for which from October 2006 through June 2007, when Jayden died.

Jayden’s brother survived and is in the care of a family member, O’Toole said.

Kevin Kimbrough, the 25-year-old Lorain man babysitting the boys while their mother was at work, could get the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder. An autopsy showed that Jayden died from physical abuse.

O’Toole said the beating that finally killed Jayden was brutal, but it wasn’t the first time the boy had been hit.

O’Toole said the boys’ mother, Julie St. Clair, had taken Jayden and his brother to Getachew almost monthly to seek treatment for injuries that were consistent with physical abuse, including bruises that neighbors also recalled seeing and didn’t report.

The abuse was obvious, O’Toole said.

“There were noticeable bruises all over the body and he died from one of the beatings.”

The autopsy performed on Jayden showed injuries to the head, older bruises and broken ribs, O’Toole said.

St. Clair no longer has custody of Jayden’s brother and has only strictly supervised visits with her son, O’Toole said.

Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said he doesn’t recall any evidence that would have led to St. Clair or Getachew being charged in the case.

Getachew declined to comment Wednesday.

Dooley, who is an attorney appointed by the court to watch over Jayden’s brother’s interests and serve as the executor of Jayden’s estate, is legally entitled to sue for damages if a doctor fails to report abuse, O’Toole said. The lawsuit doesn’t specify how much in damages should be awarded.

If Dooley wins the case, O’Toole said, the money will be kept for Jayden’s brother’s later use.

Kimbrough, who remains in the county jail, and St. Clair had been boyfriend and girlfriend but were broken up when St. Clair asked him to watch her children after her usual baby sitter fell through.

Police have said Kimbrough took the boys from St. Clair’s house to his girlfriend’s house. The girlfriend called 911, saying Jayden had stopped breathing. He died at CHP Regional Medical Center a short time later.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

 

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