Tavyus Workman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long before Tavyus Workman was born, his  family seemed in almost constant crisis. Before Tavyus was born, his mother, Brandi Hernandez, had filed or been the subject of five restraining orders. She’d been charged with a half dozen minor. Tavyus’ father, Michael Workman, also had minor brushes with the law and had twice been investigated for child abuse. Hernandez mother had gone to court to get custody of Brandi’s older children.

 

At least three human services agencies in three counties had been alerted at least 10 times to the possible abuse or neglect of Tavyus’ older half-brothers and his mother. Yet there is no record that social workers ever worked with Hernandez or ever provided parenting classes, therapy or services of any kind to Hernandez or her children. Four months before Tavyus was born, Denver Human Services got a call alleging that Michael Workman had punched and grabbed Hernandez’s four year old son in his “private area.” The boy told a caseworker that Workman was “mean,” and his grandmother said she had seen Workman trip him. But after six attempts, caseworkers couldn’t contact Workman, and, so decided the evidence of abuse was “inconclusive.” Two weeks later, someone reported that Workman had hit Hernandez’s one year old son. At the time, Hernandez said she’d never seen Workman being mean to her son but added that she was no longer allowing her children to be around Workman.

 

By the time Tavyus came along in September 2009 Hernandez was living with her mother sometimes and sometimes with Workman in the home of his mom and stepfather. On Oct. 26, 2009, Hernandez and Workman got into a fight. She took her two older boys and left, leaving seven week old Tavyus with his father.

Two days later, Workman said, he fed Tavyus, held him on his knee to burp him, and minutes later, Tavyus stopped breathing, Workman’s step-grandfather called 911. Four days later, Tavyus was dead from what the coroner ruled blunt force trauma to the head.

 

Workman’s first trial in May on charges that he killed Tavyus ended in a hung jury. In July, he pled guilty to child abuse resulting in death, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

 

 

 

http://childfatalities.denverpost.com/#id=69&name=WorkmanTavyus