Marco

CRANSTON — Over the summer, Marco Nieves took the training wheels off his bicycle –– a small step for a 6-year-old boy who was moving on to kindergarten.

Early Sunday morning, Marco was found unresponsive in the family’s unit at Riverbend Apartments. His mother, Trisha Oliver, summoned emergency medical workers who rushed Marco to Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where he died several hours later.

Oliver’s boyfriend, Michael J. Patino, charged with assaulting Marco and causing his death, is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston.

The police said the 911 call came in at 6:14 a.m.

Roxann Beeman, who also lives in the Riverbend Apartments at 575 Dyer Ave., said she woke up Sunday morning to find rescuers going into the boy’s second-floor apartment and watched as they carried her grandson’s best friend out, limp in their arms, and whisked him away in an ambulance.

Oliver, the mother, was taken away in a police cruiser, Beeman said.

About 90 minutes later, rescue personnel returned and took the boy’s younger sister with them –– after they removed her car seat from her mother’s car, Beeman said.

Then Patino, whom Beeman said had moved into Oliver’s apartment over the summer, was driven away in a police cruiser.

Patino, 27, whose most recent address the police said is 39 Cottage St. in Central Falls, was arraigned in District Court, Warwick, Monday afternoon on two felony charges of first-degree child abuse and assault.

He entered no plea, as felony charges are handled in Superior Court, where Patino is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 14.

Judge Anthony Capraro set bail on those charges at $250,000 with surety –– or $25,000 cash –– and ordered Patino to have no contact with the boy’s family and to surrender his passport. Patino, a Colombian citizen, is also being held at the ACI under an immigration hold, ACI officials said.

Cranston Police Chief Marco Palombo Jr. would not answer questions about how the boy died or whether the police had been previously called to the family’s house, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.

Leticia Nieves, a paternal aunt, said the family sought help from the police in January after hearing a voice mail message in which Patino allegedly threatened to kill the boy.

Palombo said officers had learned of the reported death threats and were investigating, but denied the aunt’s reports that the family had turned over the phone with the message to the Cranston police.

Marco attended the nearby Kid’s Kingdom Preschool & Daycare in Cranston from ages 2½ to about 4½, said Deborah Sullivan, the school’s director.

Trisha Oliver, Sullivan said, had worked there as a teacher’s assistant until about 18 months ago, when she became pregnant with Marco’s half-sister.

Oliver visited recently with her two children for the school’s end-of-summer celebration. They all seemed well, Sullivan said.

“This has hit everyone hard here,” Sullivan said, adding that one of her current students had apparently attended Marco’s birthday party last week.

At Arlington Elementary School, where Marco attended the half-day kindergarten program, the district made counselors available for grieving students and staff members, Supt. Peter L. Nero said Monday.

Nero said school officials met early Monday morning to make sure they knew about the boy’s death and knew how to address questions from students.

He also wanted staff members to know there was counseling available for the adults, as well as for the children.

“You’re dealing with all levels of understanding of grief,” he said.

At the Riverbend Apartments, the boy’s death stunned neighbors who knew the family.

Jean Ardente said Trisha Oliver is a “very good mother” and Marco “was a sweetheart.”

Beeman said her grandson was struggling with the loss of his best friend.

She recalled watching Marco over the summer as he learned to ride his red-and-black bicycle without the training wheels and attending karate lessons with her grandson.

Now, she said, she’s explaining death to her grandson.

“I say, ‘Marco’s with you,’ ” Beeman said she tells her grandson. “He watches you ride your bike. He watches you do karate.”

Just days ago, Beeman said, her grown daughter had seen Trisha Oliver playing with the children, tickling Marco.

After learning of Marco’s death, Beeman said her daughter told her, “Mom, you should have heard him laughing. He was laughing so much.”

–– With reports from Tatiana Pina and Donita Naylor

kbramson@projo.com