What Happened to Bryson Webb?

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — “Bryson never got the chance to talk, we have to be his voice. We have to talk for him,” says Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott Born at just 28 weeks Bryson Webb was considered extremely premature, so much so he needed an apnea monitor to indicate if his heart was beating. The monitor, according to Richland County Coroner Gary Watts, was critical. But on the night of April 22, 2014 Bryson Webb didn’t have it. “At the Family Dollar on Broad River Road around 9:15 p.m., he needed that monitor,” says Sheriff Lott Lott says his mother, Jennifer Coles, shown in video from bond court Wednesday morning was inside the store shopping and didn’t know he had stopped breathing. Efforts to revive Webb, by another family member, were unsuccessful. “The doctor’s orders said 24 hours a day, 7 days week,” says Watts Orders, Watts says, Coles didn’t follow. “There are probably not more than four to five days that the monitor was on him for 24 hours,” says Watts The night he died deputies found it in the trunk of Cole’s car. When they downloaded the information from the monitor deputies learned it hadn’t been used since March 28, 2014. During follow-up appointments nurses reportedly noticed the device wasn’t being used properly. “A medical professional who personally observed the child knew the mom and knew what was going on and what was not going on,” says Sheriff Lott That person, not being identified, called the Department of Social Services on March 3, 2014. “She was told an intake officer would be in touch with her. She didn’t hear back from that intake officer until April 21st,” says Watts 49 days after the call and the day before Bryson Webb died. Baby Webb’s story adds to the controversy surrounding DSS and child deaths where the agency was involved. Democratic candidate for Governor, Vincent Sheheen is calling for DSS Director, Lillian Koller to be fired. DSS released the following statement in response to Sheheen’s new conference this week: “The thousands of dedicated employees at the Department of Social Services work hard every day to protect children who are in some of the worst imaginable circumstances, and they succeed in serving and protecting thousands of children. There are a small number of tragic cases in which their best efforts do not succeed, as in this case where we could not locate Baby Webb and his apparently transient family after repeated attempts. We will always be looking for ways to improve performance in the department until we reach a day when no children in South Carolina are neglected or abused.” Coroner Watts also says Bryson Webb was taken to the hospital in January after he stopped breathing, he was revived and stayed in the hospital for five to six days. Wednesday Coles was granted a $10,000 cash or surety bond. Sheriff Leon Lott says they are continuing to investigate this case and that there is a strong possibility more charges could be forthcoming.