As Flavien Carvalho was finishing up her shift, a family of four was sitting in her seat. She immediately noticed that something was “wrong” with their behavior.
The teenager’s mother Flaviane’s eyes were fixed on the 11-year-old boy sitting slumped at the table.
His eyes were blank and his family would not give him food or drink.
Flaviane asked if there was any problem with food, and the child replied that he would eat at home.
Warning signs rang in her head, and Flaviane took a closer look.
The boy had deep bruises, cuts and scratches under his hood, hat and face mask.
Flavien quickly wrote a note and held it out from behind the child’s parents.
At first the boy just nodded, but Flavien quickly added another message: “Can I help you?
I nodded slightly.
“I’ll never forget the feeling I had when I saw that boy. I knew something was wrong! He was scared, and I was scared too.
Flavian told his boss what happened and called 911. When the police arrived, Flaviane told them that she had saved at least one life that night.
“If she hadn’t intervened, this could have been a murder case,” said Police Chief Orlando Rolon.
“The lesson for all of us is that if you see something that isn’t right, act on it….It saved a child’s life.”
It was learned that the boy had been severely abused at home by his stepfather, Timothy Wilson II.
He was covered in bruises from head to toe and had lost around 10 kilograms because he was often deprived of food as punishment.
The parents were arrested and charged with multiple counts of aggravated child abuse and neglect.