HONOLULU - A toddler thrown from a pedestrian overpass onto a busy freeway died from the 30-foot fall, not the vehicle that ran over him, the city medical examiner said Friday.

An autopsy showed Cyrus Belt, who would have turned 2 early next month, died from "multiple blunt force injuries due to fall from height," the examiner said.

Police arrested a 23-year-old neighbor of the boy. Charges were pending, police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said.

Witnesses say they saw the man hold Cyrus in the air on the pedestrian overpass Thursday and then drop him to the asphalt below. One or two vehicles may have struck the boy.

The man, who was wearing green hospital scrubs, was taken to the police station and then to a hospital, Yu said. She didn't know whether he had a history of mental illness or a criminal record.

Several people visited the overpass Friday, leaving balloons, stuffed animals and flower lei in Belt's memory.

The police, meanwhile, continued to investigate how the suspect allegedly got hold of the child, Yu said. The man acted erratically after his arrested, screaming "Thank you!" into reporters' microphones and rocking back and forth in a police car.

The child's mother, Nancy Asiata Chanco, told reporters she would never let the neighbor take care of Cyrus.

"He was strange" and "not all there," Chanco told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "He always tried to hold the baby," she said.

Chanco, 33, said she left Cyrus with her boyfriend and her father, who was sleeping in their apartment. Her boyfriend later left to take her to appointments. She said the door to her apartment was not locked, but the screen door was. She suspects Cyrus opened the door for the neighbor.

"I don't know what happened," Chanco said. "How can somebody do that?"

Chanco has two other two boys, ages 16 and 5.



[Edited 1/24/08 19:48pm]

i remember this was posted about last week

it's so sickening...sad..

sammij said:

HERE on the Org?

PurpleJedi said:

the article was posted recently

sammij said:

oops!
I missed that one!

Can we consider this an "update"?

PurpleJedi said:

i would

sammij said:

Done!