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Palm Coast Couple Charged With Aggravated Child Abuse After Neglecting Broken Arm

December 2, 2013 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

Douglas Destin and Joanna Flynn-Caraway of Palm Coast.
Douglas Destin and Joanna Flynn-Caraway of Palm Coast.

Doctors and nurses at Florida Hospital Flagler figured out effectively enough that the 3-year-old boy’s arm they were treating hadn’t just broken. It had broken at least two days before the child’s mother and her boyfriend brought the boy to the emergency room in late September. That prompted a call to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

And the arrest Sunday of Joanna Flynn-Caraway, 27, and her boyfriend Douglas Destin, 26, both of 18 Warwick Place in Palm Coast. They were each booked at the Flagler County jail, Destin on charges of aggravated child abuse and child neglect, and Flynn-Caraway on charges of felony child neglect and child neglect causing great harm.

The boy’s arm was determined to have been broken on Sept. 18 at the house on Warwick, two days before the child was brought to the hospital. Flynn-Caraway, according to her arrest report, was holding the child by the hand or the wrist when the child dropped to the floor. Flynn-Caraway told authorities that she heard what she described as a “bubble going between the bone.”

A couple hours later, the child fell on the floor again—the report does not explain how—landing on the same arm, and was in obvious pain. The next day, Flynn-Caraway told police that she noticed swelling near the injured wrist of the child. She claimed she had no way to get to the hospital at that time, and told Destin that the child’s injury needed medical attention.

Destin, according to the arrest report, told Flynn-Caraway that he did not think taking the child to the hospital was a good idea. He made a splint with a small piece of wood and bandage to wrap the injured arm. On Friday, Flynn-Caraway took the boy to a pediatrician, who informed her that the boy had a broken arm and needed to be hospitalized. That’s when she took him to Florida Hospital, though as the report describes it, when Flynn-Caraway was told of the arm needing medical attention, she left the hospital—with the boy.


Only after she reached by sheriff’s deputies was Flynn-Caraway persuaded to bring back the child to the hospital.

Flynn-Caraway has three children–the 3-year-old boy, a 6 year old and a 2 month old. This past June she had taken custody of the two older children when she and Destin traveled to Texas, where their biological father gave the children to the couple, according to the arrest report.

While at the hospital, authorities learned that the couple allegedly had cruel means of disciplining the 3-year-old boy, including dousing the child in cold water for napping when he wasn’t supposed to, sitting the child by the front door, as punishment, for 10 to 60 minutes, “and twisting [the child] into a pretzel with legs behind [his] head, causing pain to the groin area,” according to the arrest report.

Flynn-Caraway and Destin were held on $7,500 bond. They posted bail and have been released. (Flynn-Caraway’s name was misspelled as “Carroway” on her arrest report, but was corrected in her jail booking.) The state Division of Children and Families is investigation has taken the child and two other children, ages six and two months, from the home and into protective custody, the sheriff’s office reports.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    December 2, 2013 at 5:51 pm

    Gee, they had enough money to post bond for themselves but no money for a cab to get that poor child to the ER…This is what happens when a bully grows up and gets himself a girlfriend who is desperate enough to put her own children at risk for “love” (as if either of those two pictured above really understand what that word actually means.) My heart bleeds for these poor children! God bless them.

  2. Karen says

    December 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    Disgusting. Her ex in TX is obviously an idiot too. How could he give his Kids To these 2

  3. Outsider says

    December 2, 2013 at 6:21 pm

    I say we take these two morons and twist them into a pretzel and make them sit on I-95 for sixty minutes.

  4. mellissa says

    December 2, 2013 at 6:49 pm

    Why give them bond and be able to get out of jail. Sick people. And for anyone to ever give a poor ignorant excuse of not having a ride to a hospital shows the lack of intelligence these people have. You call 911 and an ambulance is your ride!! I hope a loving family takes these children and shows them what family and love really is. And I hope these two go back to jail to rot!

  5. Geezer says

    December 2, 2013 at 7:36 pm

    There’s good people out there adopting kids, some traveling China and paying a small fortune to
    know the blessing of being parents. They almost always treat their adopted child with love and care.
    They have appreciation.

    Then you have these two losers haphazardly conceiving and ultimately neglecting and abusing their little boy. What an injustice! What a glaring lack of appreciation and profound absence of common decency.
    Even a bitch treats her puppies better!

    They should be neutered (without anesthesia) and thrown in prison.
    Shame on them!

  6. Ben Dover says

    December 2, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    Im surprised Cynthia the PA in our ER here at the hospital , didn t come storming into the room screaming get that baby out of here there1s nothing wrong with it , I was in excruciating pain couldn t afford my Dr appt so went to ER she storms in room screamingat me , telling me theirs nothing wrong with me ,I tried showing her my recent MRI`s of crushed disks impinging my spinal cord in three spots and the torn rotator cuff that has the bone in my shoulder popping up the size of a golf ball , but she smacked the MRI`s out of my hand, told me everyone has 3 crushed disks in their neck and a torn rotator cuff, she had a student nurse with her which made the experience even more shocking and humiliating, I finally told her my neurologist , neuro-sugeon and orthopedic were home in bed sleeping at 2am and that I value their opinion much more then hers, if she knew her butt from her elbow, she`d be home in bed sleeping too, I will never use that hospital again, its filthy , and so are the people that work there ,, awoman I know who was there with cancer complications , had to have the nurses from the private nursing agency she worked at come in and clean her up, and her room , won t even go into the radiologist who dropped contrast need on filthy floor then injected it in my port , place is a Staph infection waiting to happen

  7. Laurie D says

    December 2, 2013 at 8:09 pm

    Sad story. Kudos to the Hospital staff for reporting. Sterilize the man and woman, Kids should go to loving adoptive parents.

  8. Mr.mondex says

    December 3, 2013 at 12:05 am

    Did they not know a simple call to 911 would summon an ambulance ..if they had no way to get the injured boy to the hospital ,,,these parents don’t deserve to have children.

  9. A.S.F. says

    December 3, 2013 at 8:40 am

    Those children should not be allowed back into that home until and unless Mr. Destin leaves it. He should either be ordered out of the home and physically away from those children. If CPS cannot legally evict him, mother should be informed by CPS that she will not have her children returned to her as long as she resides anywhere near him. Unfortunately, we do not know if the father in Texas is any better an option in terms of safety. If the children are placed with him, CPS in Texas should be notified so that they can monitor the situation on that end. Any placement with any parties being considered should be contingent on a thorough home study being conducted, with stringent follow-up performed randomly by CPS on a long-term basis. All parties involved, including the children, should receive counseling. If the alleged perpetrators are drug and/or alcohol users, they should be required to remain abstinent and this should be backed up with the application of random TOX screens. Any visitation by parties not granted legal custody should be strictly supervised by qualified personnel.

  10. Jennifer Lopez says

    December 3, 2013 at 5:31 pm

    lovely couple , the boy kid didnt stand a chance

  11. Anonymous says

    December 4, 2013 at 9:17 am

    Don’t know what arrangements this couple has with CPS but that couple IS STILL visiting those children
    at the “safe” location, I find this disturbing. These two should not have children OR pets.
    I do hope CPS is diligent with follow-up here and TOX screens a must.

  12. Geezer says

    December 5, 2013 at 9:21 am

    Time to fund DCF a little better.
    Last I heard, there were seven agents covering a 300-mile radius.

    Please correct me if I’m wrong.

  13. Brittany Figueroa says

    December 6, 2013 at 5:50 pm

    It’s people like this that make me sick. What a horrible excuse of a “mother”. I pray that all three children go into better, loving families.

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