Robert Riggs
Eight-year-old Chase and his six-year-old sister Chastin eat chicken nuggets and fries as they watch their favorite cartoon characters on YouTube.
They sit on their knees around a glass coffee table inside their mother’s small two-bedroom apartment in a south Dallas suburb.
Chase wears a neat blue t-shirt and blue jean shorts. Strands of braided hair frame his slender face.
His sister Chastin wears a white jumper with a colorful design that complements her pink hair bow and pink beaded cuffs on her hair braids.
When I met them in 2021, they struck me as quiet, well-dressed, and well-mannered African American children.
But within a few minutes, I sensed something was off.
The brother and sister didn’t talk to each other.
They were frozen in silence.
They barely spoke to their mother TiCourtney McMullen.
TiCourtney Suber
I feel like they have a hard time understanding everything. So, you know, for lack of a better word, they're a bit slow or delayed. Especially in comparison to other kids their age. They're not mentally, where they should be for their age. They're extremely withdrawn. And again I think it’s like, I don’t know, they act kind of like little kids, well they're little kids, but they act like smaller kids. So again, they have a hard time catching on sometimes when you ask them questions. It's almost like they have to it takes them a while to process the question that you're asking him. So they're very slow in how they, you know, how they respond or the and sometimes they just won't respond as if they don't know what you mean. Know what you mean or know what you're asking them.
Robert Riggs
On May 5th of 2015, Chase and Chastin suffered carbon monoxide poisoning in the Red Bird Trails Apartments, where they previously lived.
Chase was two at the time. His sister Chastin was an infant.
By the time I saw them, their mother, TiCourtney, was four years into a legal battle– trying to hold her landlord accountable for a furnace that had silently poisoned her and her children.
The landlord’s insurance company pushed back hard. In court filings, they argued the children appeared fine.
I wanted to see for myself.
I brought Christy Burr with me. She is a friend and seasoned first-grade teacher in the public school system. She carried no clipboard, just quiet instincts sharpened by years in the classroom.
Mrs. Burr sat with the children and ran through a simple assessment: letters and numbers, the basics every child should know before first grade.
Christy Burr
When I administered the assessments. Neither child spoke. The boy actually was more interactive in that he would sit at the table and at least sit there from when I remember with the girl, she was very reluctant to even try to do anything. And although he was more compliant, he was still unable to recognize letters, recognize letter sounds, even sounds or letters in his name, just would sit there and wouldn't even point. Would not count to 10, or could not count to 10. I mean, it's hard to say, because both the children were basically mute. They never really spoke or said anything.
Robert Riggs
Mrs. Burr tried something simple—Happy Birthday.
A song every child knows by heart.
But the children stayed silent. Didn’t hum. Didn’t move their lips.
Just stared, as if the melody belonged to another world.
TiCourtney watched from the edge of the room, arms folded tight across her chest.
She didn’t say a word. She didn’t need to.
Her face said it all.
TiCourtney Suber
They don't interact with many people at all, really? And I don't think it is not. I can’t even say you get used to them because, like I say, Chastin last year, she had a teacher that hardly ever, well really she, I don't think she ever heard Chastin talk. And she was in her class the whole year.
Robert Riggs
Deadly carbon monoxide gas leaked into their apartment from the furnace room next door.
They never smelled it. Never saw it.
It’s called the “silent killer” for a reason.
Because it is odorless, colorless, and tasteless as it spreads.
Once inhaled, it robs the blood of oxygen. The body suffocates, one cell at a time.
TiCourtney’s mother discovered the family unconscious.
Chase was two years old. His sister Chastin was an infant, six months old.
First responders rushed them to the hospital.
Doctors placed TiCourtney into a Hyperbaric oxygen chamber to counteract the carbon monoxide.
But for reasons unclear, the children didn’t receive the same treatment.
And, they were never the same.
Richard Mann
The fact that it landed on my desk, as opposed to another young attorney, because I was a very young attorney at that time, was just like the hand of God moving things because I had two children that were the identical age, and what that did for me was I had a comparison.
Robert Riggs
Richard Mann, a personal injury attorney with Ted Lyon & Associates in Dallas, took the case early in his career.
The case had been rejected by another law firm.
At the time, Mann didn’t just see two children with unexplained developmental delays.
He saw a mirror image of his two daughters.
Richard Mann
Chase would have strange behavior, like this glazed over look and his bobbing of his head, and maybe to other attorneys that didn't have young kids, they were just like, well, it's just a young kid. How do you know that person's injured? Where I could tell because of the comparison with my own children.
Robert Riggs
Mann spent time with Chase and Chastin. Enough to notice what others might miss. As his own children began reading and forming full sentences, the contrast became painful.
Richard Mann
My young children, and as they grew up more and more and started to be able to read, and, you know, I almost think of them, in a way, as like my legal children, my legal kiddos Chase and Chastin. They didn't develop. Instead, I was getting reports where they're just peeing in the classroom in kindergarten, where at the exact same time, my children were having very elementary levels of reading, and where Chase and Chastin wouldn't speak. They couldn't speak. You'd sit there, and you could tell they wanted to speak, and they were trying to almost even when they trusted you, because they'd seen me a bunch, they couldn't speak. And here my little kids are like jibber jabber chatterboxes.
Robert Riggs
Ted Lyon’s Law Firm sued Red Bird Trails Apartments for negligence.
It claimed that its management had ignored rust and corrosion on the boiler’s vent pipe long before carbon monoxide seeped out of it.
The pipe had come apart leaving a large gap for the deadly gas to escape.
The apartment complex was government subsidized housing called Section 8.
Marquette Wolf, one of Lyon’s lawyers who tried the case, says there is no incentive for Section 8 landlords who are criticized as “slum lords” to maintain their properties.
Robert Riggs
You know, a listener to this would say, and I know that from the evidence that they've been told for a year or more they need to replace these exhaust vents, these exhaust tubes, because of rust and corrosion. Why didn't they do it? Is it because it's section eight housing?
Marquette Wolf
Yeah, there's, you know, they'll, of course, deny this, but the reality of it is, and it's very convincing. When you talk about the reality of things in Section Eight, housing, you don't pay taxes on income. Why does that matter? Well, when you're in a commercial lease and you're gaining rent profits, you pay taxes on that, but the way you lower your tax liability is what cost, capital costs, maintenance costs, operating costs, labor costs and so on. Well, maintaining equipment, replacing equipment, these things offset income, but when you don't pay taxes, Section Eight, housing, bailing wire and duct taping things back together versus proper maintenance or replacement is right to the bottom line and and so when you do replace an $1,100 flu pipe and venting system, or you don't, the delta in your profit at that in that one small little room Is $1,100 and so there is a pure profit motive in Section Eight housing to not properly maintain, to use the baling wire and duct tape approach, because the longer you can stretch out, even beyond a useful life, any implement, any capital equipment, like boilers, air conditioners, vent hoods, stoves, refrigerators, washers, dryers, whatever, the more profit, right? And so what you end up seeing is run down, poorly maintained, you know, terrible looking places that because it's it's just natural. In this particular case, the there was an incentive among employees where, you know, they're paid based on things like rent census and profitability.
Robert Riggs
A service company recommended replacing the rusted and deteriorated carbon monoxide vent pipe in the boiler room a year before the deadly gas leaked into the children’s apartment.
Apartment Manager Tena Cavasos had requested an inspection because she and maintenance supervisor Fernando Delgado had smelled gas fumes inside the boiler room located next to the children’s apartment.
Attorney Richard Mann took depositions of the Cavasos and maintenance supervisor Delgado.
Cavasos testified under oath that she rejected the repair because it was only to improve the unsightly appearance of the vent pipe.
Tena Cavazos
He gave me that proposal for aesthetics not for life safety.
Robert Riggs
Fernando Delgado, the apartment’s maintenance supervisor hired by Cavasos thirteen years earlier, claimed under oath that he didn’t know what rust looked like.
Mann showed Delgado graphic photographs of the corroded vent pipe covered in bright orange and brown rust.
Richard Mann
What’s your understanding of as to what’s on those vent pipes?
Fernando Delgado
Like I say I am not a plumber. I cannot say what is good and not good.
Richard Mann
In terms of the brown stuff that we can see on exhibit number 9 and exhibit number 3 what’s your understanding of what that is?
Fernando Delgado
Well its just pipes. Pipes and brown stuff
Richard Mann
Okay so you do not know as we look at exhibit number 3 and exhibit number 9 what the brown stuff is on those pipes. Is that correct? Is that correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
Outside the boiler room when you're going around the property, have you ever seen rust on anything else?
Fernando Delgado
Nope.
Richard Mann
No? Do you know whether or not you've seen rust on anything else?
Fernando Delgado
Nope.
Richard Mann
All right. So if we were to go out there today and there was rusty pipes or rusty metal on various things around the property, you wouldn't know one way or the other if it was rust or not? Is that what you're saying?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Robert Riggs
A year after rejecting the proposal to replace the corroded vent pipe, Cavasos hired a plumber to clean the boiler’s heating coils.
The rusty carbon monoxide vent pipe that Cavasos passed on replacing a year earlier came apart and separated during the cleaning process.
In accordance with industry standards, Delgado, the maintenance supervisor, should have inspected the carbon monoxide vent pipe after the subcontractor had finished cleaning the boiler’s coils.
The exhaust pipe was easy to access through an opening in the boiler room’s ceiling.
Richard Mann showed Delgado photographs. The exhibits clearly showed
that the carbon monoxide vent pipe was left separated.
Toxic gas could escape into adjoining apartments from a wide gap in the rusty pipe.
Richard Mann
Have you ever in the 13 years that you've been there, stuck your head up in that hole to look around and see what's there? Nope. Not once? Not once. So you're saying there's a chance maybe you stuck your head up, and you looked around, you just didn't see anything?
Fernando Delgado
No. If I did. But I remember. It's been so long. I mean, It’s been a while. So.
Richard Mann
Looking at exhibit number eight, looking at exhibit number four. Just so the judge and jury understands. After the incident, the people who would have been able to see that separated pipe, they could have done that by sticking their head up the hole that we see in exhibit number eight. Is that correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
All right. And you said that you probably stuck your head up there, but you're not 100%? Sure. Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Like I say, I don't remember, but I think I did.
Robert Riggs
Even if Delgado and Cavasos had stuck their heads inside the opening to inspect the people, the apartment manager claimed the would have seen any problem. wrong.
Mann showed her a picture identified as exhibit 5C of the rusty exhaust pipe with a large gap where toxic carbon monoxide gas could escape into adjoining apartments.
Richard Mann
You've just observed that picture. And what you're telling us is that if you had stuck your head up through the access hole and seen what we see in 5C, you're not sure that you've been able to identify a problem, is that correct?
Tena Cavasos
Manager Red Bird Trails Apartments
That's exactly what I'm telling you.
Richard Mann
So just looking at it in the image that you can see that's not enough information for you in your capacity to say, I think that's a problem.
Tena Cavasos
No.
Richard Mann
In terms of what we see in 5c if Fernando Delgado had gone in shortly after Ash and his crew left, looked on the exterior and then put his head through the access hole and saw the image that we see in 5c based on his training and experience, you're not sure that that actually would have alerted him and therefore not you that there was a problem correct?
Tena Cavasos
That's exactly what I'm saying.
Richard Mann
Prior to this incident. In fact, including immediately before this boiler was turned back on if you had laid eyes on what we've seen in 5c without having a contractor there to explain it, what you're saying is that you would not have been able to appreciate that that was a problem?
Tena Cavasos
No.
Richard Mann
Not a life safety issue?
Tena Cavasos
No.
Richard Mann
Not a danger that could potentially seriously injure the residents in the adjacent apartments
Tena Cavasos
No.
Richard Mann
And if you saw in 5c even before they turned on the boiler, it wouldn't have occurred to you that carbon monoxide could go into the adjacent apartments, and seriously injure or maybe even kill somebody?
Tena Cavasos
No.
Robert Riggs
Instead of accepting responsibility, the owner of the Section 8 apartment complex blamed the plumber who cleaned the boiler’s heating coils.
Thus, the plumber should pay for any damages.
Robert Riggs
Cavasos claims that even if she and maintenance supervisor Fernando Delgado had each conducted an inspection of the rusty carbon monoxide vent pipe, they would not have seen the gaping wide hole in it as a dangerous problem as shown in Exhibit 5C.
Richard Mann
You're saying you wouldn't have appreciated that that was a danger and gone and said, Hey, turn that boiler off?
Cavasos
I still, I still wouldn't have known what I was looking at.
Richard Mann
And so you wouldn't have told them to turn it off? Because you just wouldn't have appreciated that?
Cavasos
I wouldn't have known what I was looking at.
Richard Mann
If you hold it up, you've made very clear that even if you would have seen what's in 5c you would not have appreciated the danger. Right?
Cavasos
Correct.
Richard Mann
Because you would have not appreciated the danger. Even if you had seen what's in 5c, nothing would have been prevented in terms of this incident. If that had happened, right. So it all still would have happened.
Cavasos
I suppose so.
Robert Riggs
And as shocking as it may sound, Cavasos claims that the very maintenance supervisor that she hired, Fernando Delgado who had been on the job for 13 years, would not know that a split-open-gap in the carbon monoxide vent pipe was a safety problem.
Richard Mann
But if he had seen that. It's your understanding based on his knowledge and expertise that you understood at the time, that it still wouldn't have prevented this whole thing from happening.
Cavasos
He didn't he wouldn't know what he was looking at. I didn't know what I was looking at.
Robert Riggs
Delgado contradicts his boss, Cavasos
He may not know what rust looks like.
But Delgado says he knows what a gaping wide hole left in the carbon monoxide vent pipe would have looked like and that it was a problem.
Fernando Delgado
Maintenance Supervisor
Red Bird Trails Apartments
Deposition
Richard Mann
So you don't need to be an expert. You don't need to be a plumber. You don't need to be certified at anything to realize that when we look at the split pipe and exhibit number four, that's a problem. Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Correct.
Richard Mann
That's a dangerous situation, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
That's a dangerous situation to all the residents that live in the building immediately beside building number 19. The boiler room?
Fernando Delgado
Correct.
Richard Mann
And if you did see that an exhibit number for you to what, hey, don't turn the machine on. Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Correct.
Richard Mann
There is a problem. The pipe is split, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Correct.
Richard Mann
There is a danger to all these residents, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
And if you do turn it on, some carbon monoxide could go where it's not supposed to go correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
The exhaust fumes might go into this crawlspace and into those apartments, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
And somebody might get injured severely because of the carbon monoxide. That's not supposed to be there, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
And you would have understood all that if you had seen that before they turned the boiler on on May 5, 2015. Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
Even without a license, without training, without anybody telling you anything looking at exhibit number four, you would have been able to know all that. Everybody will? Anybody will?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
Yes. including you. Right.
Fernando Delgado
Yes
Richard Mann
Including Ms Tena Cavazos. Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
Including Ms. Tena Cavaso and anybody from the property management company based on your experiences with them, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
And so would you agree that in a hypothetical world if you had stuck your head up there, before they turned on the boiler, and you would have said all those things about Hey, timeout, this is a danger that actually would prevented this from happening, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
And based on your experiences with them, if Tena Cavaso or anyone from the management company had come and done a similar thing, that would have prevented it, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
And nobody would be injured. Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Correct.
Richard Mann
But on that day, you are busy somewhere else? Correct?
Fernando Delgado
I was doing my job.
Richard Mann
Somewhere else?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
Busy somewhere else, right?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Robert Riggs
Busy or not, it was still Delgado’s contractual duty to conduct an inspection after subcontractor Asha Drennon of Urban Custom Plumbing had finished cleaning the boiler.
Richard Mann
When a resident comes on to Red Bird Trails Apartment, what's your understanding as to who's responsible to do the maintenance jobs on the property?
Fernando Delgado
Me.
Richard Mann
And in terms of making sure that all the maintenance is done safely and in a way that doesn't endanger them, whose responsibility is that?
Fernando Delgado
Ours.
Richard Mann
When you say ours are referring to you Tena Cavaso and the property management company and owner, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
And so if it's maintenance related, at the end of the day the final responsibility is to the residents, the people who are paying you money every month, is you guys? Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Robert Riggs
Cavasos also testified that the poor performance by Asha Drennon, the plumbing contractor that she hired to clean the boiler, did not alleviate Cavasos from her contractual duties and responsibilities to the apartment’s residents to provide safe service from the boiler unit.
Richard Mann
You're not suggesting to this judge and jury the fact that you hired Asha Drennen somehow relieves you of your duties and responsibilities based on this contract. And those maintenance provisions are you?
Cavasos
Of course not.
Richard Mann
Asha Drennon’s poor performance on that date, May 5, 2015, does not alleviate you from your duties and responsibilities to my clients under this contract to provide them with safe service from that boiler unit. Correct?
Cavasos
That's correct.
Robert Riggs
So there it is. You have conflicting stories by the maintenance supervisor and the property manager.
Delgado testified that he would have known that the gaping wide hole in the carbon monoxide vent pipe was dangerous.
While his boss Cavasos made the ludicrous claim that she would have not known what she was looking at or even known it was dangerous.
One thing is tragically clear.
Neither of them followed industry standards or best maintenance practices and simply inspected the carbon monoxide vent pipe
Robby Dean Troutt
Chief Boiler Inspector
State of Texas
Deposition
Robby Dean Troutt
If someone had inspected the entire flue pipe and its entirety all the way up, they would have noticed that the flue pipe had been disconnected or had become disconnected.
Robert Riggs
The Chief Boiler Inspector for the state of Texas who conducted an investigation after the incident says rust would prove to him that deadly carbon monoxide was leaking from the vent pipe which he also called a flue.
The investigation conducted by the Chief Boiler Inspector for the State of Texas, found that the carbon monoxide vent pipe was rusted, deteriorated, and should have been replaced.
Robby Dean Troutt
When you see rust as an inspector, if you see rust on a pipe, v pipe vent, that means it's compromised.
Richard Mann
When you say compromised. What do you mean by that?
Robby Dean Troutt
The inner lining does not contain all the fumes of combustion.
Richard Mann
Okay, and why could that be a problem in the context of carbon monoxide?
Robby Dean Troutt
Because fumes of combustion produce carbon monoxide.
Richard Mann
So 100% of the time, if there's rust that means some of the carbon monoxide is getting out. Is that right?
Robby Dean Troutt
Yes.
Robert Riggs
The state’s chief boiler inspector also concluded that under industry standards and best practices the carbon monoxide vent pipe which he also calls a flue pipe should have been replaced.
Richard Mann
In terms of the way these boilers and their flue pipes are supposed to operate when they're in new condition, or don't have any rust on them, as we've talked about, okay? In the process of the cleaning, when he lifts it up, whether it be six inches or a foot and a half, and then pulls it back down, what's supposed to happen with that piping is it's supposed to stay together.
Robby Dean Troutt
It is supposed to stay together.
Richard Mann
The determination to replace the flue pipe should have been made correct.
Robby Dean Troutt
That's what my statement says. Yes.
Richard Mann
Well, that was a portion of your conclusion as to how this incident occurred, correct?
Robby Dean Troutt
Yes.
Richard Mann
In this particular instance, is this correct that you believe in the sequence of events when Asha Drennon, Urban Custom Plumbing, pulled down, there was a separation between the pipe like we see in some of those photos, correct?
Robby Dean Troutt
Correct.
Richard Mann
And that's what happened more probably than not fair?
Robby Dean Troutt
Correct.
Richard Mann
In this particular instance, the same boiler that we're talking about in the same particular instance, if there is new flue pipe there on the day that Asha Drennon gets there to connect the coils and it's properly connected. What's supposed to happen is that it's supposed to stay together even when he pulls down, right?
Robby Dean Troutt
It's supposed to.
Robert Riggs
That’s exactly what Steven Hill had recommended to Tina Cavasos a year before Chase and Chastin Suber were poisoned by carbon monoxide.
Hill says under industry standards and according to best practices, both Tina Cavasos, the apartment manager, and Fernando Delgado, the maintenance supervisor hired by her should have inspected the carbon monoxide vent pipe and should have recognized that a wide open split in the rusted vent pipe was dangerous to their residents.
Cavasos and Delgado sound like either the most ignorant property manager and maintenance supervisor in the business or just big liars who can’t get their stories straight.
Steven Hill
Deposition
Richard Mann
After him, Urban Custom Plumbing finishes the job, what's industry standard, based on what you've said, is that either Tena or Fernando or somebody from the management company should have come and inspected what he did, correct?
Steven Hill
Yes.
Richard Mann
Okay. At least that's what should have been,
Steven Hill
The standard. Yes.
Richard Mann
They should have based on your experience working in this industry for decades as a sub trade should have been able to see that that is a dangerous condition for the residents immediately adjacent. Correct?
Steven Hill
Looking at, yes.
Richard Mann
And so sir, under oath, in front of this judge and jury, would you agree that if Tina Cavasos or Fernando had done the visual inspection, that's industry standard, and saw that prior to turning the boiler on, this all would have been prevented? Correct?
Steven Hill
Yes
Robert Riggs
So in the wake of this terrible tragedy, what have Cavasos and Delgado done to prevent another carbon monoxide poisoning?
Well nothing. They still don’t inspect work on the boiler. And all these years later, they haven’t even discussed it
Fernando Delgado
Maintenance Supervisor
Red Bird Trails Apartments
Deposition
Richard Mann
And that same way of not checking is the way that you've done it before this incident. And it's the same way you're still doing it now. Correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes, sir.
Richard Mann
After this incident that occurred on May 5 2015, where you had residents that were injured. And you know about that now, right?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
Have you Tina Cavasos, the owners, the property managers ever had any discussions, that maybe you should go and check on the work that the sub trades do before they leave the property? And before you turn the machines on? Have you guys ever talked about anything like that since this event?
Fernando Delgado
Nope.
Richard Mann
Not once.
Fernando Delgado
No.
Richard Mann
After this event occurred, and obviously the sub trade did, according to you, and according to everybody that you've talked to about this incident, a bad job, right?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
Do you think it would have been a good idea now to at least do a visual inspection of the work that they do before they leave your property for the purposes of safety and protecting the residents?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
That is a good idea, isn't it? Sir?
Fernando Delgado
Yes.
Richard Mann
If you were to just have the policy that all you got to do is a visual inspection around the work that the sub trades do and that's what you would have done on May 5, 2015. Before Urban Custom Plumbing left. You would have seen this, and this would have never happened, correct?
Fernando Delgado
Yes. Correct.
Robert Riggs
A Dallas County jury will hear testimony from seven of the children’s school teachers.
Cheryl Taylor
Kindergarten Teacher
Chastin Suber
Robert Riggs
Cheryl Taylor, Chastin’s Kindergarten Teacher, says it was extremely difficult to evaluate her scholastic progress.
Cheryl Taylor
Chastin did not speak. She did not make any sounds. So she didn't respond verbally. She never spoke to the students. She never spoke to me. She didn't make sounds when she cried. She did not make any sounds.
Cheryl Taylor
Made it difficult to evaluate her specifically in reading and language arts? Because she was unable to respond to direct questions, she was unable to give me a response as to what she knew, in terms of reading, a lot of reading is verbal. So there was no way to adequately evaluate her in totality for reading and language arts.
Cheryl Taylor
She really kind of just kind of sat there, she would indicate with her hands if prompted. And I would have to ask her three, four times before she would indicate just kind of pointing at things or nodding yes or no if she agreed or disagreed, you know, with some material that was the introduced, but it took a lot of prompting.
Cheryl Taylor
This is where the building blocks for all of further education is. And so I need to be able to evaluate those indicators as early as possible so that I know where I need to build off of those gifts
Cheryl Taylor
I had concerns for all of those indicators for processing for just kind of verbal abilities. The foundation for reading, foundations for writing are all built into that kind of oral transfer of information. So her not being able to indicate to me limited me in evaluating her. And it also limited me in kind of structuring lessons for her. So that I didn't know where you know, her shortfalls were because she couldn't indicate to me what it is that she didn't know. So it made it very difficult to create lessons for her that were beneficial.
Cheryl Taylor
Based upon what I observed with her isolation performance and her in-class performance. She was experiencing delays.
Cheryl Taylor
There was a definite language delay, there was a delay in, well her delays were basically under subjects of reading and language arts, so anything that also involved indicating anything with language across subject matter. So if it were math, indicating numbers, indicating, counting, being able to count out loud, those were all things that were delayed because she was unable to do them. She was simply unable to do them. She was unable to participate in the social studies curriculum because she was unable to give me anything, any kind of responses back and social studies is really just an oral subject, you know, introduction for the information. It's conversations, it's discussions. It's, you know, being able to relay the information back to the teacher in terms of, you know, classroom presentations, things like that. There were delays that were directly tied to her abilities to be able to speak.
Cheryl Taylor
So my concerns came, because after her spending that time not speaking, and me noticing that when Chastin was in distress, she still made no noises. So she fall on the playground and cry without sound, she would be in the classroom, and have to use the restroom, and cry without sound. And I couldn't hear I had no, no idea that that was what was going on. Other than me kind of visually going around the room and seeing tears on her face. And it was a concern for me, because she wasn't indicating, you know, her wants and needs as well as conversations in my classroom observations. She wasn't speaking to the children, sometimes children are shy with speaking with an adult, but they will talk to other children, and Chastin wouldn't even speak to her classmates. So there was a lot of hand gestures, a lot of head shaking, and kind of indicating like that. But even when, with pointing with a developmental age for children, her age, there still should be some sound, she should still be able to create a sound.
Linda Pinnock
Pre-K Teacher
Chastin Suber
Robert Riggs
Linda Pinnock, Chastin’s Pre-K teacher, says she sat in class in her own little world. She could not even get up to walk out at the sound of a fire drill like the rest of her classmates.
Linda Pinnock
She come in here, nontalking, noncommunicative this period. Didn't say a word at all. So that was that was a sign right there. That's a deficit in itself. And that means in other words, accreditation is telling me she want to use the restroom just those things that you that they do, commonly, if they need to. So anyway, the deficits not talking, no communication skills at all, at all, and that that itself is so many things. I mean, I will know it take all day. I mean, if I can just recollect what went on but just didn't ask me anything. No pencils, no paper, just stared.
Linda Pinnock
Not communicative all day long, would not respond at all, all day long. So, every area that I can think of was just nonresponsive. All-day long. I observed that.
Linda Pinnock
When it comes to delayed it’s because if you're not communicative, if you don't, everybody has to dictate everything to you. That's a humongous form of being delayed in anything in any type of skill, math and reading and writing any skill, because you cannot even relate that to anyone. And it's very hard to learn it, and then keep it.
Linda Pinnock
She learned best for me on a one-on-one basis. She still needed that.
Richard Mann
Do you believe that she needs one on one teaching in order to teach her effectively considering the deficits you've described?
Linda Loftis
Yes.
Richard Mann
And in terms of the type of deficits, it's the nonverbal deficit, as well as her staring in the room compared to other kids, as well as her not being able to build on concepts like you've testified to is that correct?
Linda Loftis
Right. Yes
Natalie Clute
Pre-K Teacher
Chase Suber
Deposition
Robert Riggs
For the entire school year that Pre-K teacher Natalie Clute taught Chase Suber she never heard him speak in full sentences. By the end of the year, she says he was delayed compared to the other children in his class.
And Chase had trouble controlling his bladder.
Natalie Clute
He would have accidents, you know, more so than children that age. You know at that age children do have accidents, but his seemed to be a little bit more frequent.
Robert Riggs
Ms. Clute also taught Pre-K to Chase’s sister Chastin. She never heard Chastin speak a complete sentence and says Chastin was delayed and way behind other students in language and communication, writing, reading, math, science, social studies, physical development, and social-emotional development.
Natalie Clute
And she was nonverbal. At the beginning, she did not speak at all. She would, she wouldn't go into the restroom. She would stand, she would pee herself every day, she would just stand there and just pee. We tried all the different restrooms in the school thinking maybe there was something you know, that scared her whatever, that she wouldn't go in there and use the restroom. And so I would just call home they would bring her a change of clothes and that was it. Let's see what else in that part about her not speaking. And then she finally started speaking to me, that it would be very quiet whispers she wouldn't speak out loud. It'll be just very quiet. And, and like I said, At first, she wouldn't talk. But then she started speaking more and more to me. And in the beginning, when we would have like circle time, carpet, she did not want to come sit with the children. So she would just stand in another part of the room and just stand there and find it near the end. Before she left, she just started to where she would just come and sit down for storytime. And she would listen, she would listen attentively, but she never responded that verbally, you know, and all the other kids that I would see her also playing with the other students like as the year progressed.
Cheryl Taylor
Kindergarten Teacher
Chase Suber
Deposition
Robert Riggs
Cheryl Taylor, Chase Suber’s Kindergarten Teacher, says he did not retain information and had trouble processing information.
Cheryl Taylor
He had difficulties with communication, so he was not able to answer questions. Verbally, he had a problem with verbalizing himself. So if he will ask a direct question he wouldn't answer he wouldn't speak, he wouldn't. He was having an issue also with socialization with the other students. So we have turned in talks where they discussed the subject matter between themselves, and he would not speak. He had difficulties with comprehension. So he was given the information in class. And he was not able to repeat the information. And he exhibited very little understanding of what was going on in class.
Cheryl Taylor
He was able to grasp the rudimentary concepts that we were doing, he would be able to identify letters, identify sounds, and then he began to as we got into more complex content, he was having difficulty using the previous information to progress in class.
Cheryl Taylor
He was frustrated. I would say he was becoming frustrated with not being able to express himself. So he would cry if I asked him a direct question. And he couldn't express himself, he would just cry.
Cheryl Taylor
We're required to allow the student to have multiple chances to pass a course. So if they get it an unsatisfactory grade, we have to go back and reteach it until they are able to pass it. So if he received an S or an E, it wasn't that he was given the information and immediately knew it. He required multiple teachings of that information before he was able to pass. So he would have received a passing grade but he would have had more chances than the other students to get that passing grade.
Tiffiney Taylor
1st Grade Teacher
Chase Suber
Deposition
Robert Riggs
Tiffiney Taylor was Chase’s first-grade teacher. She too observed deficits in his verbal communication. His first-grade reading level ranked very low in the third percentile.
Tiffiney Taylor
In regards to verbal communication. Yes, he just didn't. A lot of pointing, smiling head nodding. He communicated with the children in that way as well. The children were very accepting of him. And at times would say what he wanted for him.
Tanzea Freeman
1st Grade Teacher
Chase Suber
Deposition
Robert Riggs
Tanzea Freeman also taught Chase in the first grade. Ms. Freeman initially thought that Chase was high-functioning autistic.
Tanzea Freeman
Because he was very quiet, not very vocal. But he did exhibit giftedness in art. So he did very well in art. But as far as participating in class or initiating conversation, he didn't do that he was just very quiet. And sometimes, he would just have moments where he would just kind of tense up. And it almost seemed like autistic, almost like autistic to me.
Tanzea Freeman
So when I was thinking that he was autistic, after talking to his mom, she basically explained that's the reason why he acted like he did, because his brain was affected by the carbon monoxide.
Tichelle Calvin
1st Grade Teacher
Chase Suber
Deposition
Robert Riggs
First grade teacher Tichelle Calvin taught Chase from October of 2019 to March of 2020.
She says Chase was at a kindergarten level and was at the very bottom of the class for reading and writing.
During tests, Chase would fill in an answer, look at other students' papers, and then change his answer.
Tichelle Calvin
He would not talk to me, he wouldn't give complete sense that he did not ever really give me a complete sentence. He would get me Yes, he would give me No, he would give me short. Maybe at the max three words.
Robert Riggs
Dr. Lindell Weaver evaluated Chase and Chastin Suber for injuries following the carbon monoxide poisoning.
Dr. Lindell Weaver, MD
Principal Investigator
Carbon Monoxide-Related Research
LDS Hospital
Dr. Lindell Weaver
Regarding Chase and Chastin Suber had they not been rescued. They would have died.
Robert Riggs
Doctor Weaver conducts research on the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning and runs a clinical practice in both hyperbaric medicine and critical care.
He has evaluated more than 1,000 carbon monoxide-poisoned patients including children over the past three decades.
Doctor Weaver says at first, appearances can be deceiving.
Dr. Lindell Weaver
It's fairly common that I'll see a patient acutely, and they feel a little better we treat them they feel better still. And then, unfortunately, some of them return later with brain complications and problems.
Robert Riggs
Doctor Weaver says carbon monoxide activates the immune system with dire long-term consequences for a child’s developing brain.
Cutting-edge research indicates carbon monoxide brain damage may continue indefinitely according to Doctor Weaver.
Dr. Lindell Weaver
That process is initiated at the time of exposure to carbon monoxide. But it takes time for the immune system to damage cells and damaged tissue months, perhaps maybe even longer, certainly weeks to months. And then so if you have, in this case, a developing child, their brain is being hurt by the lack of oxygen, as well as the inflammation that carbon monoxide poisoning has caused. And now the child is on a different track for development.
Robert Riggs
Doctor Weaver’s medical evaluation confirms what you have already heard from Chase and Chastin’s teachers.
Dr. Lindell Weaver
They have trouble with attention, concentration, focus, auditory processing, there's some visual issues as for Dr. Price, reading is a real problem for them. And speaking is a real problem for them. I mean, they speak, but it's challenging, and not in full sentences, and not really at a level of comprehension.
Dr. Lindell Weaver
Both of them have an auditory processing deficiency. So what’s getting into their brain, for their brain to process is different than in a normal, healthy individual. So even at that level of auditory processing, they have problems. Then that information has to not only get into the brain, the brain then has to process it and do something. What is the action? Well, if the action is communication, that information has to be processed, contemplated, and then spoken or written. And they have trouble with that. So they have trouble on the auditory processing side getting the information in, in an understanding way. And they have trouble on the output side, getting language, be it spoken or written out. Well, I mean, think about it. I mean, everything we do in life is virtually by communication. And that's one of their major limitations.
Dr. Rodney Isom
Rehabilitation Consultant
Their learning will be incremental compared to a normal kid, a kid without this kind of disability. And your goal now is to get them to a point where they can participate in our society to whatever degree they can and live as independently to a degree, whatever they can. But it's unlikely they'll ever live independently, they'll need supervision.
Robert Riggs
Dr. Rodney Isom is a Rehabilitation Consultant in Dallas, Texas. He has evaluated both Chase and Chastin.
Dr. Isom has prepared a Life Care Plan in which he has assessed the medical goods that Chase and Chastin will require due to permanent brain damage.
Without the rehabilitative care recommended in the life care plan, both Dr. Weaver and Dr. Isom say that Chase and Chastin’s problems will get much worse, especially when they reach puberty in their teenage years.
Dr. Lindell Weaver
if they're left to their own devices, I see them struggling in school, perhaps getting into trouble using drugs dropping out. Some might end up in crime, unfortunately, I mean, when you go through the prison system, you can sort of see that, gee, where were these people when they were children? And the pattern of children who couldn't keep up or had some sort of mental or cognitive issue and make poor decisions and landed ultimately incarcerated, or even worse, injured or killed? made How about driving a car? When the time comes where they are they going to be able to make the right decisions about driving? And can they process the information that's required to be a safe driver? And do they will they have impulse control about getting angry and things like that?
Dr. Rodney Isom
When they become teenagers, and all the hormones kick in, they're both prepared to deal with the problems associated with getting through adolescence. They already are showing problems with executive functioning, and impulse control. And those issues are real important when you get older. And so not only will the differences grow, their ability to deal with problems they encounter or challenges they encounter, are going to be more impaired. They're going to internalize these issues which causes more problems. Both in getting along with others, we're doing well in school, etc. They're likely to both finish school, but through special education. They won't have a normal degree. Neither of the children are likely to be able to be competitively employed as an adult. Neither are likely to live independently. They're going to need supervision.
Robert Riggs
TiCourtney Suber knows that without the rehabilitative care recommended by the experts, in this case, her children face a very bleak future.
TiCourtney Suber
Mother
That they’re never going to be caught up with where they should be. I feel like I'm going to always have to be there with them. Because I don't want people to take advantage of them. Because they're, because they're not like mentally there. It’s like, I don't want anybody to make fun of them.
Robert Riggs
Sadly, Dr. Isom says without the Life Care Plan recommended in this case there are only two likely outcomes for Chase and Chastin’s future.
Living homeless under a bridge or behind bars in prison.
Science speaks volumes in this case. Volumes that Chase and Chastin may never be able to speak.
Dr. Rodney Isom
Rehabilitation Consultant
I would characterize both children as severely disabled. They certainly have learning deficits. They do both have emotional issues. Certainly their learning deficits originate from their cognitive deficits. And I think the thing that's important to consider is that they're quite young. And because of the nature of their deficits, originating from brain injury, their, as they age are going to fall farther and farther behind their peer group. And so what we'll see as they age, is that their differences will be greater, there'll be more observable, noticeable. They're less prepared or able to, to deal effectively with problems they encounter. But that's going to magnify as they grow. They're going to be more aware of more problems. When they become teenagers, and all the hormones kick in, they're both prepared to deal with the problems associated with getting through adolescence. They already are showing problems with executive functioning, and impulse control. And those issues are really important when you get older.
Robert Riggs
Simple questions will turn into bigger and bigger problems for Chase and Chastin according to the experts.
Robert Riggs
The teacher asks Chastin a question and she starts crying when she can’t answer.
Robert Riggs
Chastin and her brother Chase suffer from permanent brain damage caused by carbon monoxide poisoning inside their Red Bird Trails apartment on May 5th of 2015.
