ROCKLAND — Aziayh Scott cried as a Knox County jury watched a video of police and first responders trying to resuscitate his girlfriend’s son in a Walmart parking lot.
Scott, 24 and from Louisiana, is on trial for a manslaughter charge in connection with the death of 22-month old Quayshawn Wilson on May 29, 2024. Scott has pleaded not guilty and has been out on bail, his attorney said, living in Rockland and working for a local restaurant.
The video from a Thomaston police officer’s body camera, played in court Tuesday, was the first piece of evidence the jury reviewed during what is expected to be a weeklong trial.
Prosecutors have accused Scott of stomping on Quayshawn, leading to the child’s death. An autopsy report stated Quayshawn died from blunt force trauma, including a lacerated liver — injuries prosecutors have said were so severe they had to have been inflicted by someone.
Scott’s attorneys say the toddler’s injuries could have been caused by improper CPR and have cast doubt on the autopsy report.
A Maine State Police detective testified Wednesday that Scott suggested the same thing at Penn Bay Medical Center, the night that Quayshawn was pronounced dead.
“He looked back and pointed to the child and said that bruising on his stomach was from CPR at Walmart,” Sgt. Jason Andrews said.
Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Liam Funte is scheduled to testify later this week. Andrews testified that he showed Funte a police body camera video of people at the Walmart performing CPR on Quayshawn. Scott’s attorneys say the video was incomplete.
The defense says the state has no other evidence linking Scott to manslaughter. There are no confessions, videos or witnesses to any assaults, although detectives say they spoke with a neighbor who was concerned about Quayshawn’s appearance the afternoon before his death.
Detectives found Quayshawn’s blood on a pillow case the day after his death. The defense pointed out there’s no way to determine where the blood came from or how long it had been there.
CPR PERFORMED ON TODDLER
Andrews said he interviewed Scott at the hospital. He testified that he learned Scott had spent the entire day with Quayshawn. They watched cartoons, played with toys and took a nap together that afternoon.
Scott told Andrews they had arrived in Owls Head the previous night after a lengthy trip from Louisiana, for his girlfriend’s job in Maine as a traveling certified nursing assistant.
On Wednesday, the jury watched several videos of Quayshawn, taken on the day of his death. The boy danced, showed off his toys and toddled around outside the apartment complex where they were staying, the ocean nearby.
Scott told police that Quayshawn had seemed healthy except for some diarrhea and a runny nose. It wasn’t until later in the day when Scott told police he became concerned, Andrews testified. He had taken Quayshawn to the park, but the boy didn’t want to play. Andrews testified Scott told him he had been concerned by the way Quayshawn slept in his car seat.
Andrews testified that Scott said he picked up Washington from work and they arrived at around 7 p.m. to the Walmart, where Scott stayed in the car as Washington shopped. After returning to the car and finding her son unresponsive, Washington began crying for help. Scott called 911.
Before police and EMTs arrived, two women at Walmart, both with experience in health care, began rendering aid. One of the women performed chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth, while the other woman said she supported the toddler’s head.
Both women, an EMT and Thomaston police officer Mark Tibbetts, who also performed CPR on Quayshawn, testified that they were certified and taught a two-finger technique for performing chest compressions on small children. Scott’s attorney said during cross-examination that the technique was important to prevent injuries to a child’s internal organs.
All of the witnesses testified it was their first time performing CPR on a child.
The video showed Tibbetts’ left hand resting on the child’s stomach, but he testified that wasn’t a part of the CPR and that he never pressed the child’s stomach.
Katie Hanson, one of the two women who rendered aid on scene, testified that she was sure she used the right technique. She showed the jury by pressing two fingers together on one hand and crossing them over two fingers pressed together on her other hand.
She testified that she pressed them against the child’s sternum, which she said she was trained to do.
“Did anyone say you were doing it incorrectly?” asked Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman.
“Not that I heard,” Hanson said.
The second woman, Candi Johnson, said she watched over Hanson and never had any concerns. She testified she couldn’t specifically recall if Hanson had only used her fingers.
Under questioning from Scott’s attorney, Christopher MacLean, Hanson testified that she had consumed alcohol at dinner before arriving at the Walmart, while celebrating her and her daughter’s shared birthdays. She ordered two cocktails, but testified she only drank one and did not feel impaired.
NEIGHBOR’S TESTIMONY
Washington and Scott allowed police to inspect their apartment in Owls Head the following day. A detective filmed as police had the couple demonstrate their interactions with Quayshawn, using a baby doll. Washington broke down several times.
Andrews testified Maine State Police investigate all deaths of children younger than 3, except in Portland and Bangor, which are covered by their respective police departments.
Maine State Police detective Hugh Landry took photographs of the home and stains on a pillow case that the state crime lab determined was blood. A forensic DNA analyst testified that a sample taken from the stain matched Quayshawn’s DNA profile but there’s no way to determine how old the stain was.
Detectives also met with the couple’s upstairs neighbor, Kayla Gray, another traveling nursing assistant. Gray told police on May 30 that she saw Scott carrying Quayshawn to the car the previous day — before the child’s death — and that Quayshawn seemed “out of it.”
“He looked like he was just really knocked out,” Gray testified on Wednesday.
Gray told the jury she had been on her deck that day with her dog, consuming an alcoholic beverage and a small amount of marijuana. MacLean had the jury look at two images of Gray’s view from her deck, which he suggested was obstructed. Gray testified that she is “a hundred percent” sure that what she told detectives was true, and that she was not impaired.
“I pretty much play it in my head every single day,” Gray said.
She also testified that she heard people arguing in Scott’s apartment after Quayshawn’s death. Gray said she told detectives that someone was shouting “don’t (expletive) blame me for that.”
Under questioning by MacLean, Gray testified that she had never heard a child upstairs screaming or in pain.