Autopsy: Blunt force trauma to head killed 12-year-old

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A 12-year-old Fulton County boy died from blunt force trauma to the head, a medical examiner told ajc.com Friday night.

The boy, who has not been named, apparently collapsed after being forced by his sister and her boyfriend to stand outdoors in 90-degree heat holding a bucket of paint, Fulton County police said.

Sabrina Powell and Omar Pitts initially told police they were punishing the boy when he suffered a heat stroke. However, a neighbor videotaped Pitts kicking the boy repeatedly in the head shortly before he collapsed. Powell and Pitts have been charged with his murder and child cruelty.

Powell, 29, and Pitts, 27, have been charged with the boy's murder and child cruelty. They waived their right to a first court appearance Friday morning and remained in jail without bond.

They are scheduled to appear in court on July 2, Fulton County sheriff's spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said.

Police did not say what led to the punishment, but WSB-TV reported he was punished for using profanity. A neighbor at the Camelot apartment complex on Old National Highway saw the boy collapse. The boy "did not regain consciousness," police Cpl. Kay Lester said.

Mike Alsip, an investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office, confirmed the cause of death Friday evening. Prior to the autopsy, Alsip told the AJC it didn't appear to be a heat-related case.  "It was definitely a violent death," Alsip told the AJC on Thursday, hours after the boy died.

A neighbor at the complex told the AJC he saw a man kicking the boy in the head. Hakim Deen said he videotaped the assault from an upstairs window, but did not expect the boy to die from the injuries. Deen said Fulton investigators made a copy of his video.

"He was just kicking the boy, kicking the boy up in the head," Deen said. "Eight or nine times, he kicked him. The boy got up and then passed out."

Emergency officials arrived at the apartments around 3:40 p.m. Thursday after a 911 caller reported a child had suffered a heat stroke, police said. The boy was taken to South Fulton Medical Center, where he died.

Address records show Pitts and Powell lived in separate apartments.

- Rhonda Cook contributed to this report