Former Brockton woman arrested on manslaughter charge in choking incident

By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

A former Brockton woman was arrested Tuesday in Alabama on warrants for crimes including manslaughter for a 2009 choking incident that left a disabled person dead, the Norfolk district attorney’s office said.

Annie Kwankam, 57, was a caretaker in a Milton group home that provided residential services to adults with major psychiatric disorders. Lauren Wolf, 56, was a resident.

On Sept. 7, 2009, Wolf began to choke on a piece of steak and signaled to Kwankam for help before falling, the office said. A Norfolk Superior Court indictment alleges that Kwankam failed to provide assistance to the woman and walked away.

Since October 2009, the district attorney’s office has been collecting evidence in the case, “establishing probable cause to assert that Kwankam’s actions, and inactions, on that day rose above mere negligence to the ‘wanton and reckless’ conduct necessary to sustain a manslaughter charge,” Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said in a statement.

Kwankam also faces a charge of permitting serious bodily injury to a disabled person by a caretaker. She was arrested at her apartment by Birmingham police and will appear in an Alabama court for a hearing on extradition to Massachusetts, Morrissey said.