A late-night potty training session proved fatal for a 20-month-old Chicago boy, who was beaten to death by his mom’s boyfriend.
According to CBN, Darnell Thomas, 21, of Chicago, is being held without bond in the death of Jamar Harris. Police say Jamar was beaten so severely that his lungs were bruised.
Thomas was also charged with one count of misdemeanor domestic battery for beating Jamar’s 3-year-old brother.
Jamar’s mother, Kemelle Howell, 22, told police she left her two boys in Thomas’ care on Friday while she worked an evening shift at her job. Sometime after midnight, while riding home on the train, Howell received a call from Thomas who told her Jamar fell down some stairs. Thomas told her he had “whipped” Jamar after he had wet himself.
Thomas told the boys’ mother he was going to call an ambulance. Howell briefly lost phone reception, but when she spoke to Thomas by phone again, he told her that he spanked Jamar with a backscratcher and punched the boy, Conklin said.
Paramedics arrived and took both Jamar, whose heart had stopped by the time they arrived, and the 3-year-old boy to Comer Children’s Hospital. At the hospital, doctors found that the older boy had a blackened right eye, numerous bruises and scratches on his body and a recent break in his left arm. The boy told them Thomas “did it to me,” Conklin said.
Jamar was pronounced dead at the hospital just after 2 a.m. Saturday. He suffered bruises to his chest, abdomen and left arm, and an autopsy showed he suffered massive internal injuries, including bruised lungs, authorities said.
Thomas was arrested at the hospital and charged with first-degree murder. He told police in a videotaped statement that he was potty-training Jamar when he hit the boy “seven or eight times.” Thomas told police he was not the boys’ father, though he felt like their father because they called him “Daddy.”
Moral of the story: ladies, stop leaving your children with men who aren’t their fathers.
Source: CBN
