Davon Green-Franklin
By: The Family of Davon Green-Franklin
On March 14, 2010 our son, Davon Green-Franklin drowned while on Spring break in Cancun, Mexico. Davon was a swimmer, but due to a medical emergency that he suffered in the ocean, he was unable to swim to safety. Davon’s friends stated that Davon was fearful as he looked towards the shoreline and did not see anyone arriving to render him aid. One of his friends ran down the beach looking for a life guard. The other two friends helped to keep him above water until he finally slipped under the water due to exhaustion; when they pulled him back up he was unconsciousness. In fact, by the time a life-guard was located, Davon had died. He had been in the water for over three minutes waiting for help to arrive. Davon’s friends shared with me that they were verbally harassed by the authorities while in Cancun, Mexico. They were sent back to round up $600.00 in order to have Davon transported to the nearest hospital. One of the students stated that she felt intimidated by the officers because they showed no immediacy.
In less than thirty minutes of learning of my son’s death, I was a victim of the same sort of harassment. I was called by individual’s that attempted to get my credit card information and checking account routing numbers for medical bills. It was only after carefully listening to these individual’s that I realized that they were attempting to scam me. The doctors at Ameri-Med told us that Davon had been on life-support and that was not the truth. They stated that he was placed in a specialized treatment area, in fact according to a witness; Davon stayed in the same location of the hospital and was never moved to another location. When they were probed by a United States attorney, they scratched out the life-support fees and quickly sent the bill back for payment. The individuals at the hospital were only concerned about their payments. They never offered one moment of sympathy. It would take days before the U.S. Consular in Mexico to even establish contact with my family. Davon’s death was largely attributed to the fact that there were not enough life-guards on the beach nor, were there any rescue devices nearby. Mexico has a blatant disregard for human rights. Davon expected that help would arrive and that he would resume his life as normal instead, we are faced with dealing with a “new normal”. This “new normal” would be a life with our beloved son. Since Davon’s passing we have found out that there were thirty-two United States citizens that died in Mexico for the month of March 2010. There was no way we could have imagined that something so horrific could have happened to our son. We are now dedicating the rest of lives to help make other unsuspecting travelers aware of the hidden dangers of international travel. Davon’s father and I have traveled to several colleges to educate individuals on domestic and international travel safety. Before Davon’s death, he was a vibrant young man with so much potential. We remain proud of Davon and still call him “The Good Son”.
Davon attended Howard University while there; he was a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Incorporated and a member of the Howard University Campus Pals. In his community, he served as a minister and mentor. On May 8, 2010, my husband and I proudly accepted his degree posthumously. We are working with Maureen Webster whose son Nolan Webster also drowned in Cancun, Mexico; she is from Massachusetts and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA-7) sponsored this bill. Since Davon’s passing, Congressman Elijah Cummings has signed onto this bill. Our response to our son’s death has been to rise up and answer the call to shed light on our son’s story in an effort to save others. The International Travelers Bill of Rights Working Group was founded by Cory L. Scott and I. We are committed to making a difference as we work alongside Maureen Webster.
