Sacramento Bee
September 23, 2007 Sunday

Couple's grief led to recall of cribs;
Bereaved Roseville pair set out to warn others.
Kim Minugh

On April 11, 2005, Nikki and Chad Johns laid their 9-month-old son down to sleep in his crib. They turned out the light and went to bed with the same peace of mind shared by millions of parents every night: If nowhere else, babies are safe in their cribs.

The story of Liam Johns proves they're not.

"Check (your crib) every day. Make sure it's safe," Nikki Johns warns other parents. "It takes 30 seconds, but let me tell you, it's worth it."

On Saturday, the Roseville couple spoke of the weight that's been lifted from their souls as parents around the world finally hear of the danger they've been trying to warn against.

Their validation began Friday with the Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall of about 1 million cribs, 2 1/2 years after Liam's death and three months after the manufacturer settled a lawsuit filed by the Johnses.

The recall includes the Aspen 3 in 1 model from which Nikki Johns pulled her son's lifeless body that morning in 2005 -- the same model the couple and their lawyer have worked tirelessly to get removed from the store shelves.
"If it saved just one baby, it was all worth it," said Nikki Johns, 26.
But with their relief comes frustration.

The Chicago Tribune reported today the CPSC failed to take action despite growing evidence of flaws in the crib manufactured by Simplicity for the popular baby product company Graco.

The CPSC kept its investigation quiet even after more complaints about the Aspen 3 in 1 model and another baby's death last year.

"Two years and (two) deaths is too long. It's inexcusable," said Charles Kelly, the Johnses' San Francisco-based attorney. "This case points out how underfunded and understaffed the Consumer Product Safety Commission is."

But the Johnses fear the recall is a temporary fix. Eventually, the cribs will be redesigned and sold again. "It's going to start all over again," Nikki Johns said.

The morning of April 12, 2005, Nikki Johns checked on Liam in the nursery of the family's Citrus Heights apartment. She found him hanging off the side of his crib, his head trapped between the mattress and the drop-down rail, which had come loose.

According to the CPSC, the crib's hardware is faulty, its design poor, allowing some parents to incorrectly install the rail in a way that can cause it to detach from the frame. As other babies have done, Liam slipped feet-first into the gap and suffocated.

Before the grief became unbearable, Nikki and Chad Johns decided they had to act. They found a Web site that acts as a clearinghouse for law firms, explained their story and pleaded for help.

Kelly responded and came to Sacramento to hear more. He alerted the CPSC to the crib's potential liability in Liam's death, and spoke to a field investigator once in the summer of 2005. "I never heard back from them again," he said.

Meanwhile, Nikki and Chad Johns suffered through uncertainty and skepticism. Police investigated, which is a routine response, and Child Protective Services took the couple's older son, Logan, until the investigation cleared them of responsibility.

The young couple felt voiceless, they said. They tried to warn others about the faulty cribs, but nobody was listening. Instead, the Johnses said some people blamed them for Liam's death. In their grief, they wondered whether the critics were right.

But with Kelly's help, they began to learn more about the crib and other complaints about it. They were not to blame for Liam's death. The crib was.
"We may be ... young," Nikki Johns said, "but we're not wrong."

They filed their lawsuit against Simplicity in February 2006 and reached a settlement in June. Simplicity required that confidentiality be a part of the agreement, so the Johnses can't talk about the amount of the settlement. But they are ready to talk to anyone who will listen about their loss.

"This crib wasn't just sold in Sacramento; it was sold all over the world," Nikki said. "That means babies all over the world are in jeopardy."

Slowly, the Johnses have started rebuilding their lives. They have gone through counseling and even grown their family with the addition of 8-month-old Landon.

Logan, now 5, has become very protective of his baby brother, the Johnses said. He has asked his parents whether Landon will "be around" longer than Liam.

The Johnses are making sure of that. Nikki Johns checks on Landon throughout the night, as the infant slumbers inside their bedroom -- never in a crib.