An Atlantic City woman has been charged in an assault that nearly killed a 1-year-old boy.
Lisa Henderson, 55, was operating an unlicensed daycare center out of her home Nov. 30, when the boy suffered a head injury so severe he it was classified as nearly fatal, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said Thursday.
She is charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment.
But many who know Henderson said the charges couldn't be true, calling her a mother to the community.
“All I’m going to say is a freak accident must have happened at her house, because she loves kids to death and would never harm a child,” said Shelly Curry.
Henderson told investigators that the boy fell from a bed, went into a seizure and then lost consciousness, Tyner said.
But the bed — just 23 inches from the ground — would have been too short of a fall to cause the near-fatal injury, according to a medical report.
Henderson was the only adult watching several young children at the time.
The boy was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s City Campus than later sent to Cooper University Hospital.
It was determined he had a brain bleed and required emergency medical treatment, Tyner said.
Medical reports indicate that the child had a fracture of his right coronal suture, a large subdural hematoma, a cervical spine injury and retinal hemorrhages. A fall from the bed was too short to explain those injuries, according to medical reports.
The child has been released from the hospital.
Several people expressed support for Henderson, who they said was a blessing to working single mothers who needed someone they could trust to care for their children.
“Lisa is an amazing woman,” said one resident whose cousins who not only had Henderson baby sit their children, but were also under her care years ago.
“She’s always been an amazing community babysitter with nothing going wrongfully,” she said. “She helped many families with children, food, money, birthday parties, you name it.”
Henderson was arrested Tuesday. She was released Thursday after her first appearance, according to court records.
“All that (know) me (know) what type of person I am,” Henderson wrote on her Facebook page. “I believe in a strong and powerful God and I am OK because I put all my trust in him.”
