Day 2 of 'Take Care of Maya' trial: Younger brother, uncle testify

A comforting hand placed on another's shoulder in the row ahead, a brown napkin passed silently between hands, fingers gliding beneath wet eyes to wipe away tears, an occasional sniffle in the moments of silence.

As the second day of trial in the Kowalski family suing Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital case began Friday, community members in the gallery reacted to testimony by Brandon Woodward, a neighbor of the Kowalski family who is suing All Children’s Hospital for false imprisonment, negligent infliction of emotional distress, medical negligence, battery, and other claims.

The family initially sued the hospital, social worker Catherine Bedy and others in October 2018, more than a year after Beata Kowalski took her life after being separated from her daughter due to child abuse allegations.

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Woodward, who moved to Venice in 2007 and lives four houses down from the Kowalski family, recalled how social the Kowalskis used to be — Jack Kowalski was always outside working on projects and waving to neighbors who passed by, Maya Kowalski would flit in and out of the house, Kyle Kowalski would always be outside playing football with the neighborhood kids, and Beata Kowalski could be found sitting on a bench outside either on her laptop or reading a book, a glass of wine or cup of coffee in hand.

The family was a big part of the social scene, even hosting the annual Fourth of July neighborhood block party at their home two years in a row and participating in the bike parade where kids could dress up their bicycles and ride around the neighborhood, Woodward said as a photograph of Maya and Kyle Kowalski on their bikes appeared on screens throughout the courtroom.

Woodward recalled that during the 2015 Fourth of July party, he walked into the Kowalski's home and heard a sound that was hard to describe coming from the kitchen, and soon realized the noise had come from Maya Kowalski.

That day, July 3, 2015, Maya Kowalski was taken to the hospital for the first time.

It was the beginning of a chain of events that would lead to Maya Kowalski being diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a disorder that impairs the central nervous system and heightens pain sensations, flying to Mexico to be placed under a ketamine-induced coma, and would ultimately lead the family taking her to All Children's Hospital in October 2016 where she was separated from her family for three months after child abuse accusations were reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The chain of events would lead to Beata Kowalski's death by suicide in January 2017 in an attempt to bring her daughter home, according to previous reporting.

Jackie Detert, Maya Kowalski's fourth and fifth-grade teacher, remembered meeting Maya Kowalski for the first time when she was in a wheelchair in September 2015. A month later, as Maya's condition worsened, Detert and another teacher began stopping by the Kowalskis' home to tutor Maya Kowalski who had become homebound.

Detert said over time, especially into early November, Maya's condition deteriorated further: her eyes were sunken, her skin looked gray, she was bedridden, and her legs were turning in.

"(She) looked like a kid that wasn't going to make it," Detert said.

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After the Kowalskis returned from Mexico in 2015, where Maya Kowalski underwent a ketamine-induced coma, Detert said Maya's condition improved, and if she hadn't been homebound, she would have recommended Maya Kowalski for a gifted program.

The defense pointed out during their questioning of Detert that it had been the Sarasota County School Board who had decided Maya Kowalski should be home-bound for the beginning of the 2016 school year based on an evaluation done by her doctor who recommended the same thing, according to a letter presented by the defense.

In August 2016, as Maya Kowalski was starting her fifth-grade year, she was still in a wheelchair, but she was bubbly and positive, Detert said.

Detert knew about Maya's ketamine injections, she confirmed Friday but said the injections didn't really impact her learning abilities, just made her tired at times.

Other witnesses Friday echoed the same recollection that Maya Kowalski's condition improved after her time in Mexico, she was stronger, her feet straightened out and she wasn't in as much pain. Then her condition worsened, and the family took Maya Kowalski to All Children's Hospital in October 2016.

Detert visited Maya Kowalski while she was at the hospital to continue teaching her and said that the 10-year-old grew progressively sadder over the course of her stay at the hospital, especially when her dad wasn't allowed to see his daughter. Detert added that staff at the hospital acted indifferently towards her.

"They were super hungry to hear how she was doing," Detert said of Beata and Jack Kowalski asking to hear from Detert about how their daughter was doing, with Beata Kowalski especially being relieved. Detert teared up when she described how Beata Kowalski became desperate to see her child, and it became too hard to continue calling the mother with the updates.

Robert Rynes, Jack Kowalski's younger brother, said he loved Beata Kowalski the moment his brother introduced her to him and that she was a loving and sweet person.

On the morning of his 50th birthday in 2017, Rynes received a call from his brother.

Beata Kowalski was dead. Rynes rushed to his brother's home and told the jury he remembered seeing Kyle Kowalski standing near the laundry room trying to get into the garage while his father blocked him from entering. He picked up his nephew and took him back to his home for several hours.

During Rynes's testimony, the plaintiffs admitted and published to the jury the 911 call for them to hear. As Jack Kowalski's voice filtered through the audio system in the courtroom, a young Kyle Kowalski could be heard in the background crying out.

As the 911 call played, tears flowed from community members in the gallery, a handful of jurors and the three Kowalskis. Greg Anderson, the lead counsel for the Kowalski family, placed his arm on Maya Kowalski's back comforting her during the call. A paralegal comforted Kyle Kowalski as he sat a row behind his sister, a pile of tissues growing on the table in front of him.

Rynes described how his brother, niece and nephew were all changed by Beata Kowalski's death. His nephew became introverted and didn't interact with others while his niece was emotionally in a different place. Rynes said his brother changed the most, as he was not only a father but now was filling in as a mother too.

Kyle immersed himself into fishing, Maya into her schoolwork and improving, and Jack into helping people, Rynes said.

'Feisty fighter': Those close describe Maya's recovery

Kyle Kowalski took the stand following his uncle. While he spent nearly an hour on the stand Friday, the 16-year-old will take the stand again at a later date to finish his testimony.

Kyle Kowalski told the jury that his sister wasn't released immediately following their mother's death, but sometime later and that she was the "worst I've seen her." Maya Kowalski's lesions had returned, her feet were turned in, and she was weak, her brother said, adding she had trouble opening a water bottle and getting back into her wheelchair.

Rynes and Detert echoed Kyle Kowalski's testimony that Maya Kowalski was in worse shape following her stay at the hospital.

Kyle Kowalski worried he might lose his sister, but she was determined to get better, he said, adding she'd get up before 6 a.m. to work out and build her strength.

"There were times where'd she break down crying because the pain was too much," Kyle Kowalski said.

Other witnesses echoed that Maya Kowalski was strong like her mother and a fighter and that she was determined to get better and be stronger. Detert described Maya Kowalski as being a "feisty fighter."

But slowly, Maya Kowalski regained her strength and was able to walk without crutches, and as the defense pointed out, there was a point after Maya Kowalski got out of the hospital when she was able to ice skate.

Kyle Kowalski testified to the jury that his sister has good and bad days, some days where she can't get out of bed at all and others where she wants to go the beach, but they never know when she'll have a bad day.

Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 'Take Care of Maya' trial: Kyle Kowalski testifies, 911 call played