Too Close to Home

This article appeared in the news today.The article does not mention that there were injuries Derek's 8 month old brother also. I heard about it on Tuesday because  I had worked with the childs paternal grandmother. Derek's parents were amist a divorce due to abusive behavior on her part.Please keep this family in your prayers.

Mother's boyfriend charged in Griffith toddler's death


Prosecutors charged a man with neglect of a dependent Thursday in the death of a 20-month-old Griffith boy.

After telling police his girlfriend's child was injured by falling off a love seat, David Steven Golub, 24, admitted he was actually "twirling the child around very fast by his ankles when the child's head struck the side of the entertainment center," according to a police probable cause affidavit.

Derek Hansen, of the 1000 block of East 35th Avenue, died at 12:10 a.m. Thursday at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

A preliminary medical exam indicated Hansen suffered from retinal hemorrhages and cerebral hemorrhaging, according to the affidavit. Medical personnel determined Hansen's death was the result of child abuse, the affidavit states.

The Cook County medical examiner's office did not immediately schedule Hansen for an autopsy Thursday because he is an organ donor. Once his organs are harvested at the hospital, his body will be examined.

When officials arrived at the boy's residence Tuesday, Hansen was lying on the floor struggling to breathe. He was taken to The Community Hospital in Munster and then airlifted to Comer Children's Hospital.

Golub was baby-sitting Hansen and an 8-month-old infant when the incident happened. Golub told officials he didn't call 911 after Hansen struck the entertainment center because he was scared, the affidavit states.

A neighbor saw Golub carrying Hansen and screaming in the parking lot of his apartment complex. Golub met his mother in the parking lot and told her the toddler had fallen. When the neighbor heard the toddler wasn't breathing, she called 911.

The Indiana Department of Child Services also is looking into the death.