2-Year-Old Boy Dies Of Multiple Injuries At Alabama Hospital, Father, Stepmother Charged

A man and a woman were arrested after their toddler son died of multiple injuries at a hospital in Alabama on Wednesday (May 13).

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to the 1600 block of Sixth Street N.W. in Center Point on Wednesday afternoon after receiving a report of a baby not breathing. The parents of 2-year-old Demetric Hampton Jr. told the officers that their son began to choke while eating. The boy was transported to a local hospital where he was declared dead.

"Deputies were told by the parents that the child had been eating and began choking. The child was transported to Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead. After Detectives began speaking with medical personnel, it was discovered that the child had multiple injuries," the sheriff's office said.

Following this, 26-year-old Demetric Hampton Sr. and 24-year-old Terrica Harris were taken into custody and charged with aggravated child abuse in the death of the boy. They were being held in jail without bond.

The sheriff's office said Harris was the boy’s stepmother. The couple could face additional charges once the investigation comes to a conclusion. No additional information was released.

The incident comes a month after a woman in Winnipeg, Canada, was charged in connection with the death of her toddler stepson. Medics responded to a home after receiving a report of an injured child. The toddler was rushed to a local hospital where he died two days later. An autopsy revealed the child died from a head injury. Multiple injuries were also found on his body.

Following this, the child’s stepmother, identified as 20-year-old Victoria Reane Thiessen, was interviewed, during which she told the investigators that the child either had fallen or was struck by his elder sibling. Police, however, concluded that neither of the “explanations accounted for the seriousness of the injury or the mechanism of the injury.” She was arrested and charged with manslaughter.

In another incident, a seven-year-old girl in China was beaten to death by her stepmother for eating too slowly. The child was rushed to a local hospital with severe bruises where she was pronounced dead.