A Time of Need : Parents Can’t Afford Burial for Girl Killed in Fall

Latoya Dayton was trying to slide down a stairwell banister on the sixth floor of her MacArthur Park apartment building when she fell more than 35 feet, striking her head on a platform. She was pronounced dead on arrival at Childrens Hospital.

As if that weren’t tragedy enough, her parents now are fighting to raise enough money to have Latoya buried.

Nine days after the accident, Patty, 24, and Eddie Dayton, 32, find themselves unable to afford the $1,788 that her funeral and burial will cost. If they don’t before March 8, they may have to let the Los Angeles County coroner cremate her remains, as they do for unclaimed bodies and others who cannot afford interment.

“She was only 6,” Patty Dayton said. “It’s not right for her to be cremated. She came into this world in one piece and she should go out in one.”

“I don’t want her cremated,” Eddie Dayton said. “I want her grandparents to see her. They’ve only seen her once in six years.”

The Daytons have set up a trust fund for Latoya at Wells Fargo Bank to try to raise the $1,788 they need for the viewing, service and interment. So far the couple have raised $300--a donation from Patty Dayton’s mother.

Eddie Dayton, a driver for the California Department of Transportation, said he had been looking for a better apartment than the one room he, his wife and his three children have been renting for $375 a month since 1982, but on his salary, he hasn’t had much success.

Joan Chen, owner of the apartment building, said she was very sorry about the accident and she would be checking with her insurance company to see if she can help with the burial costs.

“I am not rich,” said Chen, who has owned the building for eight months. “I put my house in mortgage to buy this building. If I can do something, I will.”

She admitted the building is run down but said she is having it remodeled. The remodeling, however, will not include any changes to the stairs. “She fell because she was sliding down the banister.”

But Patty Dayton finds it hard to believe it was an accident. “We’ve been here since ’82. She played up there all the time. Why didn’t she fall before?

“There were other kids around, there were adults there. Why didn’t they tell her to get down? Why didn’t they come get Eddie or me? They know us,” asked Patty Dayton, who was in her apartment at the time. “I just can’t believe she’s gone.”

The incident has been ruled an accident by the police, although it is still under investigation.

Donations for Latoya Dayton’s burial can be sent to the Latoya Dayton Memorial Fund, Wells Fargo Bank, 801 S. Hill St. in Los Angeles.