A Pensacola Village toddler’s last day

Yesterday an Escambia County Grand Jury indicted Alonzo Dewayne Thompkins, Jr. for First Degree Felony Murder in the death of a two-year-old child, initials C.S.

Inweekly obtained today the court documents filed on the case.

Mary Riddle lived in Pensacola Village, one of the City of Pensacola’s housing projects, with her three children, ages 10 months, two, and three, and her boyfriend Alonzo Thompkins.

On Aug. 8, Riddle found her two-year-old son not breathing when she returned to her apartment. The child had been left under the care of Thompkins. The child later died at Sacred Heart Hospital.

According to court documents, the toddler was covered in “very fresh bruises” to his back. The bruises appeared to be shaped as if inflicted by an adult fist or finger. The child’s forehead had a reddened area and had bruises to his ears. A CAT scan revealed bleeding to his brain.

When questioned by police at the station, Riddle, who was six months pregnant, said that Savage was removed from her custody in April 2016 for a brain bleed and injuries and placed in the care of the Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF). The child was returned to his mother on July 17.

Riddle gave this account of C.S.’s last day:

On Aug. 8 around 7 a.m., Riddle’s sister woke her and asked that she take her son to school orientation. Before leaving, the mother checked on C.S. and her three-year-old. The child woke briefly and his mother told him to go back to sleep. The 10-month-old had been given an insulin shot and was sleeping.

Riddle left the apartment between 7:45-8 a.m. She told police that she was only gone for an hour. When she came back, C.S. was unresponsive in his bed. CPR was performed by her and her family until EMS arrived.

According to court documents, Thompkins told police that when Riddle was awakened, he went to the store to get milk. When the mother left, he started to clean up the apartment and smelled “poop” coming from the children’s room. He changed the infant’s diaper and initially said C.S. was still breathing.

After additional questioning, Thompkins admitted that the “popped” C.S. three times on his back – “He was crying for no reason, he is always whining.” He said the bruising to the toddler’s head might have occurred on a different occasion when he pulled the boy from the bed, and the child lost his balance and hit his head on a dresser.

Dr. Cameron Snyder of the Medical Examiner’s office did the autopsy of the boy. He discovered bruising to his esophagus, bleeding between the ribs (posterior), stretching of the diaphragm, blood in the abdomen, bruising of the pancreas, and a lacerated liver.

While Riddle was being interviewed by police, DCF discovered that the three-year-old daughter had fresh bruises and possibly a broken arm, according to police reports.

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