In: Mother charged in autistic tot's I-465 scare

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Mother charged in tot's I-465 scare

Brizzi says chance that boy running on highway has autism doesn't excuse

woman's actions

By Rob Schneider and Vic Ryckaert

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n County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said that even if her child has

autism, there's no excuse for a mother's lack of supervision that enabled

a 3-year-old boy to wander onto I-465.

" Feces on the wall, eating out of the trash can is absolutely beyond

simple housekeeping, " Brizzi said. " It's more like a concentration camp. "

Brizzi on Wednesday filed felony charges of child neglect against

Dyer, 30, the mother of the toddler found running on the interstate near

56th Street on the Northwestside on Saturday.

State troopers who investigated the case said they were told by a social

worker that the boy might be mildly autistic. But one of the boy's

relatives said he wasn't.

Dyer, who is being held on a $3,500 bond, declined The Indianapolis Star's

request for an interview. She is scheduled to appear today for an initial

hearing in n Superior Court on four counts of child neglect. Each

charge is a felony and carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison

if convicted.

If her son has autism, Dyer could have been under enormous pressure, an

advocate for families with autistic children said.

Pieples, president of the Autism Society of Indiana, said she didn't

know the family but that children with autism can be ingenious in figuring

out locks. " They can be very fast, and they have no fear of danger. "

Police said Damon , wearing only a dirty diaper and Superman

T-shirt, was found on I-465 shortly before 9 a.m.. Motorists pulled the

boy from the roadway.

About an hour later, State Police found Dyer's 2-year-old daughter,

le , with spaghetti sauce on her face, apparently from

eating spaghetti she had pulled from the trash and thrown onto the

carpeted floor while her mother slept, according to court documents.

Child Protective Service workers gave state troopers " the indication the

child (Damon) may have a mild form of autism and that the mother thinks so

also, " said 1st Sgt. R. Bursten, a spokesman for the State Police.

But a relative said the child doesn't have the disorder.

" Damon is not autistic, " the boy's aunt, Quinn, told The Star.

Quinn said Dyer has told relatives that both children were evaluated for

the disorder but don't have it.

Dyer and the children stayed with Quinn's family in Portage, Mich., for

several days before Dyer moved to Indianapolis about three weeks ago. Dyer

is about four months pregnant, Quinn said.

Police said Dyer was awakened when troopers knocked on her apartment door.

When told her son had been found running on the highway, police said she

remarked, " Oh, he got out again? "

Dyer told police she usually places boxes in front of her apartment door

to prevent her son from getting out because he knows how to open the door

locks.

Pieples, with the Autism Society, said a friend of hers nailed shut

windows in her home to keep her autistic 6-year-old child safe after the

child learned how to unlock the windows and crawl out onto the roof. The

child liked to walk along the white lines on the highway, she noted.

Autism is a complex neurological disorder that can impair a person's

ability to interact and communicate. It can be associated with rigid

routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects

or following specific routines. Symptoms can range from mild to severe.

When pulled to safety, Dyer's son had a " happy-go-lucky " attitude and

looked like " the world was a great place, " said Troy Crady, one of the

motorists who stopped after seeing the toddler running down the right lane

of the interstate.

Parents of children with autism often feel like " there is nothing I can do

to keep my child safe, and I can't get any rest or take care of myself or

anyone else because this child is so high-maintenance, " Pieples said.

In court documents, police said Dyer's apartment was in disarray, her

daughter was wearing a diaper full of feces and there appeared to be feces

or dirt in the children's bedroom.

But finding feces on the wall of a home with an autistic child would not

be that uncommon, Pieples said.

" When you hear there was a child found in a house with feces on the wall,

you have one horrible picture, " Pieples said. " But if you are someone

within our community, you think, 'That poor woman.' "

Dana is a speech and language therapist who works with children

with autism at the St. Pediatric Rehabilitation Center. She said

neither the desire to escape from a home nor playing in feces is among

primary identifying characteristics of autism.

According to police, Dyer had recently moved to Indianapolis from Florida

and was living by herself with her two children.

Raising a child with autism alone would be a daunting task with a support

network. " Without one, it's an impossible task. " Pieples said.

If the boy has autism, Brizzi said, Dyer should have been even more

vigilant in caring for and protecting him.

In 2005, Brizzi declined to file charges against the parents of an boy

with autism who wandered away from a cookout and drowned in a

Southeastside pond.

In that case, Brizzi said, the adults lost track of the child for an

instant and the result was tragic.

Even though Dyer's children escaped serious harm, Brizzi said, her failure

to protect them is a crime.

" But for the grace of God we wouldn't be talking about (Class) D felony

neglect, we would be talking about something much worse, " Brizzi said.

" It's very fortunate that no harm occurred. "

Other metro-area incidents involving children who wandered from their parents

• May 2005: Kern, a 7-year-old with autism, drowned in a

Southeastside pond after he wandered away from a cookout a few houses down

from his home. No one was charged in connection with his death.

• March 2005: The 2-year-old son of Arlena Doty was found wandering near

his Danville home, wearing only a diaper, while Doty slept. All four of

Doty's children were removed from the home, where conditions were

deplorable, according to authorities. Hendricks County prosecutors charged

Doty and her husband, , with felony neglect.

• August 2003: The four children of Cheryl Strong were placed in

protective custody after residents who lived near Strong's Near-Eastside

house called police when her 3-year-old daughter climbed out of a screened

window while Strong slept. Neighbors said the children were frequently

unsupervised. Strong was not criminally charged in the incident.

• August 2001: While his father napped, 3-year-old Wittenmyer Jr.

and his 2-year-old sister, is, crawled into the family car outside

their Indianapolis home. is was severely dehydrated but survived;

died. Their father, Wittenmyer, was not criminally charged.

-- Compiled by the Star library

Call Star reporter Vic Ryckaert at .

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