Years later Detroit mother still struggling to care for child injured by brick thrown through car window

Teen who threw rock has moved on with his life

DETROIT – What happens after a traumatic event? In this particular case, a little girl was hit with a brick. Since then the road to recovery for the child and her mother has been difficult.

In May of 2017 Robyn Rivers was just 2-years-old when she had to undergo surgery for a fractured skull.

She was supposed to be safe in the car seat inside the back of her grandmother’s vehicle one block from home when a teen threw a brick through the window hitting Rivers. She is now 5-years-old with a plate in her head.

A 16-year-old served a little over a year in juvenile detention for throwing the brick and has gone on with his life.

The child’s mother says her reality is having a little girl who rarely sleeps and has trouble with every day tasks and has so much energy, schools have told her they cannot handle her.

“I have gotten her tutoring and I have decided to home school her," said Barbara Williams, the child’s mother. The home schooling starts at 8 a.m. right after Williams gets off work. “I actually work nights, I work midnight to 8 a.m. so I have to get off to start the home schooling. When do you get to sleep? It’s fine,” she said.

Her daughter could have died during the incident. But the teen who threw the brick will never truly know the damage he caused.

“I would tell him you know you actually messed her up long term, and he is older now and no one reached out to see if she’s fine, but I would tell him you really messed her up long term,” she said.

This local mother is open to meeting the person who threw the brick, open to an apology -- she knows that will never happen.


About the Authors

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

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