ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando restaurant manager and owner who police say saved a young boy from an abusive home received another noteworthy recognition on Wednesday.
Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon honored Flaviane Carvalho and Rafaela Cabede’s bravery with the department’s Good Citizenship Award.
Carvalho was serving tables at the Mrs. Potato Restaurant, owned by Cabede, on New Year’s Eve, when she noticed that an 11-year-old boy sitting at one of her tables wasn’t allowed to order any food.
She saw marks on the few inches of skin she could see from underneath the boy’s hoodie, glasses and face mask. There was a glimpse of a bruise on his temple, and a big scratch between his eyebrows.
Carvalho concocted a plan. She wrote, “Are you OK?” on a piece of paper and held it up to the boy, from where his parents couldn’t see. The boy nodded yes.
She tried again. “Sure?” she wrote this time. Another nod. But Carvalho said she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
“Do you need help?” she wrote on her final note. Another nod.
She called police.
The boy told detective Erin Smith of daily beatings from his stepfather, Timothy Wilson, 34, who remains behind bars on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.
His mother was charged with child neglect, and both the boy and his sister were removed from the home.
READ: Reports of ‘severe’ child abuse cases have doubled during the pandemic, doctors say
Orlando police said the latest honor is a reminder of the lifesaving difference citizens and police can make working together.
“If you have that feeling, say something,” Smith said. “It might be nothing, but at least you took that step and reported it to the proper authorities that can investigate it, and you can save another child’s life.”
