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Lawyer calls suspect devout
February 18, 2007
By Kate Perry
Defense attorney says public has
wrong idea about O.D. Heck worker
One of the men charged in
connection with the death of an autistic child didn't know the boy
was dead when he and his co-worker went shopping and ran errands
with the boy in the back of their van, his lawyer said Saturday.
Attorney Brian Donahue described
his client Edwin Tirado, 35, of 1634 6th Ave., Schenectady as a hard
worker and a devoutly religious man. He said Tirado, who is not
married and has no family of his own, would never let a child suffer
at the facility where he works, O.D. Heck Developmental Center in
Niskayuna.
"There's no way in the world this
man was driving around knowing he had a dead child in the back of
the vehicle," Donahue said.
Tirado is accused of putting O.D.
Heck client Jonathan Carey, 13, who was also mentally retarded and
nonverbal, in an inappropriate restraint hold while they were on the
way to a shopping trip at Crossgates Mall, Guilderland, police said.
Another O.D. Heck client, who
police aren't naming, and another staffer, Nadeem Mall, 32, of 9
Plaske Drive, Schenectady, were on the trip. Colonie Police say the
group stopped at a Colonie grocery store so Mall could use the ATM
and when he returned to the van he saw Tirado restraining the boy.
The pair then conducted several
errands before returning to O.D. Heck, where 911 was called. Police
say Carey stopped breathing in the van. Both men were charged with
manslaughter and sent to the Albany County jail.
Donahue said the public has the
wrong perception of the incident.
"They think these two men were just
joy riding around in van with a dead boy in the back," Donahue said.
"Based on what I'm hearing ... this is not who Edwin Tirado is. He
is a very devoted worker."
The attorney said it's possible
that Carey had a deadly seizure.
Donahue has only met with Tirado's
family, but he will visit his client in jail soon.
Tirado and Mall are due in court
Wednesday and Albany District Attorney David Soares said he'll put
the case to a grand jury as soon as autopsy results are available.
Kate Perry can be reached at
454-5092 or by e-mail at kperry@timesunion.com
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