Her Baby’s Bruise Sent This Mom to the Hospital. What Happened Next Shattered Her Family.

When Kierra Pino, 32, in Florida, found a bruise on her newborn son’s shoulder in late November 2024, she did what any concerned mother does. She took him to the hospital for answers.

She, and her husband Darryl, had no idea that this simple trip to the doctor would end in a nightmare that they would spend the next year trying to wake up from.

“I was just trying to do everything I can to make him comfortable,” Kierra told Townhall. Her son, Darryl Buchanan III—she calls him D3—had come from a traumatic delivery. 

Kierra is diabetic, which made her pregnancy more complicated than most. When D3 got stuck during what was meant to be a caesarean section, doctors had to use a vacuum extractor to free him.

After D3 was born, weighing nine pounds, the parents noticed bruising on his face that the nurses did not document.

For the first few weeks, D3 was fussy and showed signs of discomfort. Kierra and Darryl made nine trips to various medical providers to figure out what was ailing their son. These included a pediatrician, an ER visit for constipation, a cardiology appointment for a heart murmur, and others.

On November 28, 2024, Kierra noticed swelling on the infant’s right side of the neck. This prompted her to take him to University of Florida Health Shands in Gainesville.

That’s when everything fell apart.

At Shands, doctors found a fracture in D3’s clavicle. Kierra believed this discovery would trigger an investigation into what was causing the child’s health problems.

Instead, the doctor determined that the injury was the result of physical abuse and blamed the parents.

“We’re 99% sure this is non-accidental trauma. This is child abuse,” the doctor said, according to Kierra.

Despite never asking a single question about her family’s history or exploring alternative causes, the doctors immediately accused the parents of harming their son.

The mother suggested that D3’s injury could have been caused by rough handling during medical procedures at a previous clinic. However, the doctor responded by claiming “medical professionals wouldn’t do that,” Kierra said.

The mother was bewildered, especially since Darryl’s infant nephew had experienced a similar injury at another hospital when medical professionals accidentally broke his clavicle.

Unfortunately, the Child Protection Team at the Shands made up its mind. The agency contacted the department of Children and Families (DCF).

Within days, the authorities seized D3 and his three-year-old sister Kiani—who had never suffered any injuries. In an instant, DCF had cast the parents as abusers even thought they did not have criminal records or prior involvement with DCF.

“They didn’t ask me anything,” Kierra said. “He just kept saying, ‘You said he was seen at one of our clinics? Yeah, they couldn’t possibly do that.'”

However, several medical professionals say D3’s medical records tell a different story. Dr. Niran Al-Agba, a board-certified pediatrician with 25 years of experience, pointed out what should have been obvious from the start: The child likely suffered a sternoclavicular joint separation—the kind of injury that occurs when a large baby gets stuck and requires a vacuum extractor during birth.

“The rough handling by medical personnel… most likely dislocated the unstable SC joint due to the initial injury associated with birth,” Al-Agba concluded.

Dr. Doug Benson, an orthopedic surgeon, saw evidence of metabolic bone disease. Soft spots on the skull. Poor mineralization. These are the hallmarks of the types of injuries D3 sustained. He further pointed out that rib fractures are common when it comes to larger babies who experience a difficult birth.

As Valentina Villalobos, Kierra’s attorney, noted in a motion for sanctions against the state, “The medical evidence in this case clearly demonstrates that an underlying medical condition caused the baby’s injuries” and that “There is no scenario in which the Department can prove by clear and convincing evidence that the baby suffered child abuse.”

But the situation worsened in February 2025. D3, now four months old and separated from his parents, suffered a seizure during a supervised visit with his father at his grandparents’ home.

Darryl sprang into action. He had previously worked in the prison system and was trained on CPR. He performed chest compressions on his son, which saved his life.

“He just dropped the bottle, and he just stopped breathing,” Kierra told Townhall. “[D3] is shaking, panicking. We get to the ER. I grab him. He’s super cold, and he doesn’t have on clothes or anything.”

Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors found a subdural hematoma—a blood clot on the brain. They also discovered retinal hemorrhages.

Instead of fully examining the situation, the state immediately came to a conclusion: Darryl had shaken the baby, causing the injuries.

They made this assessment even after multiple doctors at Tampa General Hospital explicitly said the injuries were not consistent with shaken baby syndrome. They also found that the blood clot was likely pre-existing.

The doctors also concluded that the retinal hemorrhages could have been caused when Darryl performed CPR on his son and saved his life.

“It’s not surprising that CPR by this big guy on a tiny infant might result in some other head stuff, like the retinal hemorrhages,” Villalobos told Townhall. “But they tried to say it was shaken baby syndrome, which none of it makes sense.”

The state’s response was quick and merciless. It filed for Termination of Parental Rights and yanked the two children from the grandparents’ care and placed them into foster homes. 

The state’s response was swift and merciless. They filed for Termination of Parental Rights. Both children were yanked from the grandparents’ care and placed in foster homes. Separate foster homes. An uninjured three-year-old girl, traumatized by separation from her baby brother and her parents, was placed with strangers.

Neither Kierra nor Darryl are facing criminal charges. They have no history of abuse. Their other child sustained no injuries. Yet, they are still fighting to be reunied with their children.

Now Kierra works as a substitute teacher while fighting a system that treats her like a criminal for seeking answers about her baby’s medical condition. Darryl works as a truck driver. 

“They basically just told us we’re either going to go to jail or lose our kids,” Kierra said.

The children spent almost 90 days in foster care before Villalobos managed to get them moved to an aunt’s home. Trial is scheduled for January.

The family has created a GoFundMe page to help with their legal expenses.

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