Emergency efforts were
unsuccessful Thursday afternoon in trying to
revive 6-month-old Mika Michele Terry, who had
been left in a vehicle outside a church in
Maypearl, police said.
Dispatched first
to the scene was Maypearl Police Chief Nathan
Bickerstaff, who found an emotional father
holding his infant daughter inside the sanctuary
upon his arrival at about 1:15 p.m. at the Ranch
House Cowboy Church, located on Farm-to-Market
66.
And it was a saddened Bickerstaff who
described the scene in an interview this
morning.
"When I got there, there was a
lady standing outside who told me, 'They're
inside,' " Bickerstaff said. "I got there and
started CPR on her; I thought I had a pulse. The
fire department arrived, and their monitor
showed a light pulse, but ... evidently she had
been in the truck too long.
"It was a sad day yesterday. It
tore me up. I wish I could have saved her life,
but I was unable to," he said.
Although
the roadway is within the city of Maypearl's
jurisdiction, the church is in the county's,
with the investigation into the incident falling
under the jurisdiction of the sheriff's office,
which also responded to the scene.
The
infant's father is cooperating with authorities
and told them he was supposed to have dropped
the child off at a daycare, but forgot she was
in his pickup, sheriff's Lt. Danny Williams
said, noting estimates place the child as having
been in the back seat of the unlocked four-door
pickup for about four hours.
The father,
32, had gone to the church to do some
construction work, he said.
"We did
confirm the child had been left alone in the
vehicle," Williams said, describing the child as
unresponsive on deputies' arrival. "The child
was transported by East Texas EMS to Baylor
Medical Center at
Waxahachie."
Bickerstaff said
firefighters took over CPR from him, with East
Texas EMS arriving and starting intravenous
fluids and continuing the CPR through the
child's transport to the hospital, where
lifesaving efforts continued until she was
pronounced dead by a physician, with Justice of
the Peace Curtis Polk also called
out.
The child's body was ordered to the
medical examiner's office for an
autopsy.
Child Protective Services and
the Ellis County Child Fatality Task Force also
have been notified of the incident.
When
the investigation is completed, the matter will
be referred to the Ellis County and District
Attorney's Office for review and consideration
of whether or not any charges would be filed,
Williams said.
It's a good family with
good parents, Bickerstaff said, noting the
couple has two other children and has been
involved in the community.
"The community
is really rallying around them," he said.
"Everybody in Maypearl is supporting
them."
