bananas are rotten, i don t eat them. what else do you know? erica s struggles from the brink of death became blockbuster news in her hometown. and the miracle baby became the media s celebrity as the familiar face for a community leader s campaign to keep the children of louisville safe. she is still the miracle baby, but she is also a great advocate for fighting crimes against children. erica, what do you want to be when you grow up? a nurse and a teacher. why a nurse? you have to help people. erica, come here. like the nurses and, doctors from kosair children s hospital who saved her life. we re so glad to see you. more than three years later, they celebrated erica s recovery with a red carpet reunion. taking it all in, surgeon thomas
hospital. steve kelsey also served as a minister in a local church. it was so moving and personal, but for jesse, then a crime reporter for a louisville journal. what el evaluated the story was simple. little erica. the public concern from the beginning was always there was a two-year-old involved. after nearly two weeks in the hospital, erica was well enough to move to nearby frazier rehabilitation institute, but the hard work was just beginning. the brain injury had damaged her ability to walk and talk. what had been second nature to her had to be relearned. running, talking back and forth, and just being a playful kid again. erica s sister who knew her best was worried. erica had lost sight in her right eye forever. and ebony was afraid she would never be her old self again. what was different. she didn t run and play and talk
you knew it was your daughter, what went through you. i lost a son in 78 in a car car wreck. he was already gone when i went to the hospital. i could have shed a two years went on about my business. this was different. my son was 21. he had no children. the loss of erin, a mother of four was devastating. now the family had to deal with what happened to baby erica. finding out in the most impersonal way. i knew she was hurt by the police rushing her down the street that i saw on tv. later they learned how badly hurt. she had been shot in the head. why in the name of god would somebody do that? it was this man s job to find out. now, in your experience, how many times have there been babies who are victims. there s never been a case i ve worked where a baby has been shot. a life long local with a once promising pitching career, now retired detective rick arnold
you know. get her home from the hospital. it was a home she already knew. her grandparents judith and meryl were waiving good-bye to carefree golden years. they were full-time parents again. i greagreed from the first di would take care of her not knowing what shape she was going to be in. not knowing what mental state she would be in. erica s father had never been a big part of her life. court granted full custody. you worked your whole life. supposed to be your time. kind of kick back and put your feet up. that doesn t bother me a bit. me and my husband, we re a little different. didn t turn out exactly like i thought it would because of well the children. four years before the shootings, harold had retired from long time meat packing job expecting to ride his harley
detective rick arnold admitted it made his blood boil. why did you make that promise? that was probably a little emotion spilling over. if we were expecting at that point, the baby to die. erica had practically flat lined as the police caravan delivered her to kosair children s hospital. she was rushed to the emergency room where doctor and nurses worked frantically to stabilize her. dr. thomas moriarty, seen here during a recent operation, performed surgery on the gun shot wounds to erica s head. these were cat scans of her skull and brain, preop. part of the bullets and broken bone.