‘Do you need help?’ Police say note written by Orlando waitress helped save abused boy’s life

ORLANDO, Florida – A waitress in Orlando told police she knew something was wrong when an 11-year-old boy sitting at one of her tables was banned from ordering anything either to eat.

Then she noticed the bruises on her arms and her face.

The waitress, Flavaine Carvalho, has concocted a plan. She wrote “Do you need help?” on a piece of paper and handed it to the boy his parents couldn’t see from their stand at the Mrs. Potato restaurant.

She told police it took three tries before the boy signaled “yes”.

Carvalho called the police. Now he is credited with helping save the boy from what the police called a “dangerous abuse” situation.

“It could have been a homicide situation if it hadn’t intervened,” said Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon. ABC WFTV Affiliate.

Restaurant owner Rafaela Cabede said she blamed what happened on a higher power.

She said Carvalho had no plans to work the night she spotted the child. She was only there because another employee called. And the family were sitting at the only table in the restaurant where Carvalho could have held the sign in front of the waiter without the rest of his family seeing him.

They were also the last table of the evening, allowing Carvalho to pay more attention to the family.

“We understand this has to encourage other people that when you see something, say something,” Cabede said. “We know that when we see a situation that is wrong, we know what is the right thing to do. We know that speaking up is the right thing to do. But it takes more than acknowledging it.

“The lesson here for all of us is to recognize when we see something that is not right to act on it… It saved a child’s life,” Rolon said.

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The boy’s stepfather, Timothy Wilson II, 34, was arrested on one count of third-degree child abuse.

In interviews with detectives, they said the boy told them his stepfather hit him with his fists, a wooden broom and a scraper on his back. The boy told detectives he was hung upside down from a doorframe by his ankles and, in another case, tied to a furniture cart.

Police said the boy also said he was regularly not allowed to eat as a punishment. He was 20 pounds underweight.

“To be honest, what this child went through was torture,” Inspector Erin Lawler said. “There was no justification for this in any kingdom in the world. I am a mother and to see what this 11 year old girl had to endure, it shocks your soul.”

After learning further details of the abuse, police said they re-arrested Wilson on multiple counts of child abuse and neglect.

Police said that when questioning the child’s mother, Kristen Swann, she admitted to being told about the abuse and not seeing a doctor for the boy. She was arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect.

Investigators said the boy and a 4-year-old girl had been removed from the couple’s custody by the Ministry of Children and Families. They said there was no evidence of physical abuse against the girl.

Police said the family had recently moved to the area and were staying in an extended stay hotel.

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