Chapter 1 - The Other Child in the House
I stayed out of the medical crew’s way and looked for what else needed doing.
The three-year-old was unconscious, and the people working over him already had the urgent task in hand.
His breathing was abnormal.
I could see injuries, but I could not tell from standing there what had caused them.
That distinction mattered from the moment I entered the Pueblo West home on June 8, 2024.
I was there as a deputy, not a doctor, and the child needed treatment before anyone needed an explanation from me.
Then I saw his older brother.
He was fourteen, and he had injuries too.
Until that moment, the emergency had centered on one small child who could not respond to the people helping him.
Now I had to make sure another child did not get overlooked simply because he was conscious.
I drew attention to his need for medical care and kept my questions to what was necessary for the immediate response.
I did not ask him to explain the household in front of the adults.
There would be people whose job was to speak with him properly, in circumstances that did not compete with his treatment.
My job was to help get him there.
I wanted answers, of course.
But wanting them did not make it right to press an injured boy while his little brother was being prepared for an ambulance.
I kept returning my attention to the practical things in front of us.
The medical crew needed room to work.
The older child needed attention of his own.
The investigators would need an accurate account of what we had found, without guesses worked into the spaces between observations.
I could write that I had seen injuries on both children.
I could not write that I knew how either child had received them.
Their mother was Samantha Kimberly, and investigators began questioning her as the response continued.
I did not try to follow every question while helping with the scene.
Anything I had not heard myself would have to come to me later through the people handling that part of the investigation.
The younger boy was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
I later learned through the investigative updates that he had been flown from there to a hospital in Colorado Springs because his injuries were life-threatening.
His older brother was also taken to a hospital for treatment.
I did not know what either medical team would find, and I could not promise myself that getting them out of the house meant they would both be all right.
Still, getting them to care was something we could do.
When the immediate movement settled, I began sorting what I needed to record.
I held on to the order of events, especially the fact that medical personnel were already treating the younger child when we arrived.
I wanted my report to preserve that boundary between what had happened before my arrival and what I had actually witnessed.
There would be explanations to examine, including the one given when help was called.
But I had not walked into a home with only one injured child.
I had seen two brothers who needed medical attention, and whatever explained the emergency would have to account for both of them.
