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Family honors 3-year-old left on day care van
The family of a 3-year-old boy left on a hot daycare van held a balloon release Sunday to honor him. FOX 26's Natalie Hee has more.
HOUSTON - It’s been two years since 3-year-old RJ Pryer died after being left in a hot day care van for several hours.
On Sunday morning, his family held a balloon release to honor RJ.
The RJ Foundation For Kids, founded by the family after his death, has also recently partnered up with Harris County Precinct One Constables to hand out car placards, reminding parents to look in the backseat before they leave and lock their cars.
The Pryer’s said they hope this doesn’t happen to another family again.
"It's been a rough day. It still seems like it just happened yesterday," said Raymond Pryer, RJ's father.
For Raymond Pryer and his wife, Dikiesha, July 19 will always be the day they lost their 3-year-old son, RJ.
Two years ago, RJ was on a field trip when he was left on a scorching hot day care van for nearly four hours. The van belonged to the Discovering Me Academy.
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"I must say that sometimes I'll be at work and I'd be getting inside of a machine working and I might break down in tears thinking about RJ. And I know that happens to my wife sometimes too," Pryer said.
Last year, authorities arrested the day care bus driver, Maurice Mitchell, charging the 62-year-old with injury to a child by recklessly causing his death. Mitchell is accused of turning off the passenger safety alarm without first inspecting the van.
RELATED: Cypress day care center shut down, affiliated with toddler's death in hot van
However, Pryer says the case has remained stagnant due to COVID-19.
"We don't have any closure, is like everything is stagnant. Everything is the staying still," Pryer said.
RJ’s memory now lives through a bench built in his honor at Doss Park. It's the last place he was seen smiling before he boarded the day care van.
Despite all the grief and heartache, there is a shining light for the Pryer family.
Last August, they gave birth to baby DJ. To them, he was their miracle baby. With a similar laugh, smile, and looks to his big brother RJ, baby DJ gives Raymond and Dikiesha a second chance at raising the son they've always wanted.
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"Sometimes you know the Lord bless you. We didn't see that coming. It will be hard for me to send DJ to a day care. I wouldn't be able to work knowing that my son is not having some type of protection. So until something changes to help these kids, I'll work whatever hours I need to work to make sure. Just because of what I went through. I'm not trying to say anything against day cares but because of what I went through, it's gonna be hard for me to send him to daycare," Pryer said.
The Pryer’s have also dedicated countless hours pushing for legislative change to better protect kids, including the RJ Pryer bill, filed in April 2019.
"We want a bill passed where you have cameras in the schools, on the buses, in the vans. Our kids, they can only do so much for themselves. They're little, you know, they can't take themselves out of the seat belt. We have to do it for them. So, the only thing we can do is at least try to protect them as much as we can," Pryer said.