Miguel Humberto Arias-Baca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1999 on Super Bowl Sunday, two year old Miguel Arias-Baca was dying laying on the bathroom floor of his foster home. Miguel’s foster father, who had been drinking at a Broncos victory party, was upset that Miguel had soiled his diaper. He smeared the toddler’s face in his own feces and threw him to the ground. As Miguel’s brain swelled with blood, his foster parents waited more than four hours before they took him to the hospital. The child, whose body was covered in bruises, never regained consciousness. He died in the hospital before his biological family could be located.

 

Anna heard the slamming noises coming from the bathroom. She heard her younger foster brother crying. She went into the bathroom and found Miguel, sitting on the toilet with feces smeared on his face, crying. Anna brought Miguel out to the living room couch, and tried to comfort him. She noticed that he seemed dazed, and she was afraid that he'd been hurt very badly. Although a fourteen year old child could tell that Miguel needed help, Rickey and E'von waited until the next morning to bring Miguel to St. Anthony North Hospital. First Rickey Haney said Miguel fell off the toilet and hit his head. An autopsy showed that Miguel's fatal injuries were non-accidental. Then he changed the story, claiming that his wife beat the child. He convinced E'von to go along with the story. She would get a much lighter sentence than he would.  However, there was one person who knew the truth and was willing to come forward with it.  Anna Haney told the police everything she'd seen and heard, the night her stepfather came home drunk and beat her foster brother to death. Finally Rickey Haney admitted that he was the one who brutally beat his two year old foster son.  Although he insisted he had no clear memory of it because he'd been intoxicated at the time.

 

Miguel’s foster parents, Ricky and E’von Haney both had criminal arrest records. Foster care was their sole source of income. They were paid several hundred dollars for each child they cared for. In addition, E'von had a young daughter of her own, Anna. Rickey Haney had a recent arrest record that included drunk driving, careless driving, and driving on a suspended license. He was also known to have a temper, especially when he was drinking. In 1996, 11  year old Anna accused Rickey of beating her. At the time, Rickey and E'von were licensed foster parents through a private foster care agency called Synthesis, Inc, in Lakewood, Colorado. Although the county caseworkers who investigated the abuse allegations decided that they were unfounded. Pat Higgins, the director of Synthesis, Inc, was sure that Anna was not lying. So sure, that she told Rickey and E'von she would not be placing any more children in their home.

 

Haney continued to insist that Miguel's death was not his fault, because he'd been drunk at the time. He also continued to plead for a light sentence, saying that he was afraid he wouldn't "make it" in prison, and that he was "too nervous". Haney was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.

 

Being drunk adoes not make you uncountable for  your actions and Miguel did not deserve to lose this life because of them.