A 5-year-old boy who has autism is on a ventilator after he was abused by his mother’s boyfriend at their home in North Miami Beach, authorities said.
According to an arrest report, the victim’s mother shares two children with the suspect, DER, 34, however he is not the biological father of the victim.
Police said the victim’s mother said she noticed that her son was very lethargic when he woke up Friday morning and then progressively got worse throughout the day.
The mother told police that she and her boyfriend tried to revive her son by placing water on him in the bathroom, but she told R to call 911 when she saw that her son’s lips were turning blue.
Police said the victim was in cardiac arrest with no detectable pulse when first responders arrived.
According to the arrest report, officers performed CPR on the boy until Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel arrived.
First responders regained a pulse on the child before transporting him to Jackson North Medical Center with his mother.
According to the report, R is believed to have harmed the boy last Thursday when his mother noticed swelling to the rear of his head with a small cut and minor bleeding, along with swelling to his arm.
Police said R was next to the victim when his girlfriend came to her son’s aid, and told her that her son had been rocking on the edge of the bed, fell and struck his head on a TV and food stand.
The victim’s mother told police that she went to the store later that day and returned to find her son with more injuries, including a large lump on his forehead and scratches on his face.
She said when she confronted R, he told her the boy was running inside the house wearing socks and had slipped and scraped his face on a vacuum.
According to the report, he also told her that if she took her son to the hospital to tell medical staff that he had fallen from a bicycle.
Police said R and the victim’s mother both initially told responding officers that the victim fell from a bike, but the mother eventually provided details about the injuries she had witnessed once detectives told her about her son’s condition at Holtz Children’s Hospital, where it was discovered the boy had suffered internal bleeding to the brain and abdominal cavity; lacerations to the liver, kidney and spleen; a fractured left arm; bruising and scratches to the face; bruising to the back; swelling to the forehead and swelling to the back of the head.
Police said a physician’s assistant confirmed that the injuries were not consistent with accidental trauma, but are indicative of blunt force trauma.
The physician’s assistant also confirmed to detectives that the victim remained unstable Friday and was on a ventilator.
According to the report, the victim’s mother eventually told detectives that she believed R caused her son’s injuries as he was the only adult present when her son was harmed and that he often became irritated at her son due to some of his behavior caused by autism, including rocking and making noise.
Police said the woman told them that R also disliked her son’s father and got angry when the victim was referred to by his legal last name.
She added that previous domestic violence incidents had occurred inside their home that went unreported and that her son appeared “uncomfortable and tried to avoid” R when he became angry.
R was arrested on charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect causing great bodily harm and providing false information to police during an investigation.
He declined to speak with detectives, the report stated.
As of Monday morning, R was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.
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Source: Local10
