Dad on trial for manslaughter in death of 6-year-old daughter during court-ordered visitation (Syracuse, New York)

Previous accounts have clarified as that dad GLENN COLLINS had court-ordered visitation despite a history of drug abuse, child neglect, and a criminal record. The protective mother's concerns were ignored, especially concerning the children being left unsupervised. Daddy left the kids alone for the night while he gambled with his girl friend out of town.

http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/02/first_responders_describe_morning_of_childs_death_from_carbon_monoxide_poisoning.html

Deputy first at scene of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning 'tried to breathe for' lifeless 6-year-old By Julie McMahon on February 11, 2015 at 3:14 PM, updated February 11, 2015 at 3:41 PM

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A sheriff's deputy who took the witness stand in the manslaughter case against Glenn Collins, accused of causing his 6-year-old daughter's death, said she "tried to breathe for" the lifeless girl.

Lindsey Giles, an Onondaga County sheriff's patrol officer, was the first to arrive and help the children at 106 Carlton drive around 6:36 a.m. Aug. 29.

Collins, the father of 6-year-old Gabriella and 14-year-old Jaidon, was standing in the front doorway of the house, over his son, who was laying partially out of the door jam, Giles said in her testimony.

After checking both children's vital signs, Giles determined that Jaidon was breathing, so she focused her attention on Gabriella.

Inside the living room Gabriella laid on the floor. Tapes from Collins' call to 911 indicate that a dispatcher instructed Collins to move Gabriella onto the floor from a couch.

Giles said her first priority was to take care of the children. She remembered Collins pacing around saying "help them, help them."

She began chest compressions on the girl.

"I tried to breathe for her," Giles said.

Deputy Brian Klink was the next inside the house. He assisted Giles with chest compressions.

Within seconds, Klink remembers a Mattydale fire chief arriving and advising them it was unsafe to be in the house. Giles remembered a firefighter telling everyone to get out because the carbon monoxide level was too high.

Klink picked up Gabriella in his arms and carried her out to the lawn. Another deputy carried Jaidon outside.

As they continued CPR on Gabriella, Deputy Dane Spicer asked Collins questions about the children's names and the generator. When Spicer asked about the children's mother, Collins stopped responding. (Gabriella's mother is Julianne Steinbrecher; Jaidon's is Elizabeth Stafford.) Spicer next focused on "securing the scene," which meant first putting up police tape, he said.

The first responders provided the following account in their testimony:

NAVAC ambulance arrived and directed Klink to remove Gabriella's pajama top so they could continue live-saving efforts. EMTs got the girl into ambulance and transported her to the hospital.

Klink then tried talking to Collins, who said he was the children's father and told him the generator was in the basement. Collins told Klink he had left the house around 11 p.m. the night before then got back around 6 a.m.

Gabriella Collins, 6, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the end of August. The girl's father took the stand in his own manslaughter case to say he barely remembered the morning of her death.

Collins said when he got home that he found Jaidon upstairs and Gabriella in the living room. Klink stepped away to called a supervisor to relay that information.

A fire chief asked Collins to bring firefighters to the generator. He brought Mattydale volunteer firefighter David Fitch, who was a captain in the department at the time, and another firefighter downstairs to the basement, where they saw the generator was turned off.

Fitch saw a fan and asked Collins if he could plug it in, but Collins said there was no electricity at the home.

As they went back upstairs, Fitch noted that he'd detected the carbon monoxide level in the basement to be between 18 and 20 parts per million.

Soon after, Giles, saw that Collins was walking under police tape and away from the scene.

She went over to him and asked him to come back because they needed to talk to him.

"He was the only one with a voice," Giles said. "He's got two children who aren't conscious or able to talk. He's the only person who could give us any ideas as to why, to help his own children get the next steps for treatment."

At that point, Collins was resistant, uncooperative and loud, she said. He refused to come back or do anything officers asked, stating he was going to the hospital. #Klink stepped in to help, but Collins said the only way he was going with them was if he was handcuffed. Giles told him they didn't want to cuff him in front of his neighbors, but when he refused, she cuffed him under the direction of a supervisor.

Collins was later released from custody, but has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, theft of services, criminal impersonation, harassment, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, in addition to grand larceny and fraud charges he's facing for allegedly attempting to rent the unfit home at 106 Carlton Drive.

Both children were transported to Upstate University Hospital, where Gabriella was pronounced dead. Jaidon was in a coma, spent several weeks in the hospital and is still recovering as he attends school part-time.