3-Year-Old Boy Suffers Second-Degree Burns After Mom's Partner Immerses Him In Hot Water

A man in Texas has been taken into custody for allegedly submerging his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son in hot water, resulting in the child suffering second-degree burns.

The boy’s mother took him to a local hospital on March 24 and the child was transported to another hospital for treatment of the burns. The hospital informed police about the burns following which the mother was called for questioning, Texarkana Gazette reported.

The mother was interrogated on April 6 during which she claimed that her boyfriend was babysitting her four children, including the 3-year-old, on March 23 when she was at work. When she returned home, she noticed that the child’s skin stuck to his diaper. When asked, her boyfriend, identified as Terrell Da'Shun Childs, allegedly told her that the boy was accidentally injured when he was giving him a bath, East Texas Radio reported.

The woman told the investigators that her boyfriend did not allow her to take the boy to the hospital. The following morning, she dropped her other children at school and took the boy to the hospital.

The investigation, however, revealed that the woman had not been to work on the day of the incident and when questioning about the discrepancy, she did not have an answer.

Following this, the investigators interviewed Childs who told them that he decided to give the child a bath after the boy soiled his diaper. He claimed that he did not realize that the water was too hot and that he placed the boy in the tub on his buttocks. He alleged that he took the child out only when he started crying.

Investigators, however, concluded that his account of the incident did not fit the physical evidence as an adult would always place a child's feet first in the bathtub.

"With knowledge and training in child abuse cases it is known that submersion burns are a type of child abuse that is used typically for punishment during toilet training," a probable cause affidavit stated, Texarkana Gazette reported.

Childs, however, denied that he stopped his girlfriend from taking the boy to the hospital and claimed that he and the woman had in fact done an internet search on how to treat second-degree burns at home. The woman took to the child to the hospital when she felt that the burns were getting worse.

Following an investigation, Childs was taken into custody Monday. He appeared in court Tuesday and was charged with injury to a child with intent to cause serious bodily injury. He was being held in the Bowie County jail on a $75,000 bail. It wasn't clear if the child's mother would be facing charges in connection with the incident.