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WEST JORDAN — A day care is on probation following an investigation into the death of a toddler who was trapped under a beanbag chair.
The Utah Department of Heath investigation shows that the West Jordan Child Center did not take all reasonable measures to protect the children; it did not meet proper ratios for a mixed-age group, with only two adults for 17 children; and the child who died was out of sight of all caregivers for more than 20 minutes.
The day care is now operating on a conditional license for a year and will undergo inspections at least once a month during that time.
On Sept. 8, just a few days before his second birthday, Leo Sanchez died after apparently being trapped under a beanbag chair an adult sat on to read a story to children at the facility, 7195 S. Redwood Road.
“(There) was a series of events that led to this tragedy, and the number of things that had to come together for this accident to happen … in all likelihood would never, ever, ever happen again," said Dustin Lance, attorney for the Sanchez family.
Lance said the family reached an out-of-court resolution with the day care.
“It’s the holidays. It’s a hard time to deal with this, and so they’re coping as best as they can," he said, "but this is something that they’ll deal with for the rest of their lives."
Lance said his clients weren't looking to force the day care to close.
"Mistakes were made, and those mistakes have been corrected,” he said. “They have accepted responsibility, and that’s one of the things that my clients were most interested in.”
No other details of the agreement were released.