March 15, 2007 — Charges of assault and domestic violence brought against a St. Thomas woman were inexplicably dropped Thursday after a weeklong ordeal that at one point landed 33-year-old Tracy Blyden in jail.
Blyden was arrested Tuesday and held without bail after authorities at Lockhart Elementary School notified Human Services on Monday that it appeared one of their students had been intentionally burned.
A clerk in Superior Court confirmed Thursday afternoon that an advice of rights hearing was held for Blyden and that prosecutors entered a declaration of null pros, or no prosecution.
"Medical records were submitted, and it didn't seem the child had any serious injuries," the clerk said in response to a telephone inquiry made Thursday afternoon.
The notification by school officials set off a strange string of events that led a Human Services case worker to round up the child and three or four of his siblings, and transport them to the Schneider Regional Medical Center. Human Services spokeswoman Monife Stout said the caseworker was confronted by an unidentified male — later described by police as Blyden's boyfriend, who ordered the children into a van, which he then drove away.
An incident report logged at Zone A Police Command said a Human Services worker reported a man removing children from the emergency room at Schneider Hospital. Police called it kidnapping.
"As a part of what we do in intake and emergency services, we went to the school, we investigated what happened, and we decided to take the child down to the hospital, with the child's other siblings," Stout said.
She continued, "Upon arrival to the hospital, a gentleman came and took the children. We are assuming the relationship of the gentleman, but we cannot say. That happened immediately upon arrival to the hospital. There was no wait in the waiting room. We were actually being attended by the hospital staff, and at that time the children were taken. That was on Monday. They were just entering the hospital."
The report touched off a lengthy police search, from Monday into Tuesday, trying to locate the injured boy and his siblings.
The children were found Tuesday morning, the boy was treated for his burns at Schneider Hospital, and the mother was arrested. Authorities did not take action against the man who picked up the children in the hospital parking lot.
Blyden was subsequently charged with third-degree assault and domestic violence. The acting chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Douglas Dick, had no comment Thursday as to why the decision was made not to prosecute the case.
Hospital spokesman Amos Carty initially said officials there knew nothing about the situation in the parking lot on Monday and had no record of treating a child with the injuries described by police.
By Wednesday he said there was information that medical care was rendered. "But that was after this event. That occurred long after this event," he said.
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