An upstate New York mother faces child endangerment charges after police say they found her 2-year-old son in a cage at their home, covered in feces and suffering from multiple fractures.
New York State Police arrested the 24-year-old woman after her son was found living in deplorable conditions with fractured ribs and bruises on his body, New York State Police said Thursday. York in a press release.
Police said they learned of the toddler’s condition during a visit to the family’s Buffalo home on Feb. 4 to execute a warrant for the woman’s arrest in connection with a separate crime. The statement did not specify the alleged crime.
While at the home, investigators found the 2-year-old in a bedroom inside a “makeshift cage,” a play pen covered by a piece of crib attached to the top, ” not allowing the child to stand or exit the playpen,” the statement said.
“The cage and the 2-year-old child were covered in human feces. There was feces on the walls,” investigators wrote in the release. “The child and bedding were soaked in urine and feces.”
Chicken bones found in cage, mother arrested
New York State Police Trooper James O’Callaghan told WKBW-TV officers found leftover food inside the cage.
“Bones or some kind of chicken bones. So I mean, it was something where you looked at it and it was disgusting,” O’Callaghan told the outlet.
Investigators on scene contacted Child Protective Services and Emergency Medical Services arrived and transported the child to a children’s hospital.
The woman was transported to a police station in Clarence and arrested for child endangerment, according to the release.
It was not immediately known whether the woman was free on bond Friday.
USA TODAY is not naming the woman to protect the child’s identity.
Mother accused of child abuse: California mother accused of hitting her newborn, leaving him with 16 broken bones
Doctors: Child’s ribs had been broken for at least 10 days
At the hospital, doctors determined that the baby suffered bruising to his face and body and also suffered from two healing fractured ribs, which could indicate that the baby’s ribs had broken between 10 days and two weeks before the child is seen by medical personnel, police said.
The woman told police in an interview that the child fell down the stairs between late December 2023 and early January 2024. She added that she did not seek medical assistance.
It was not immediately known whether the woman had obtained an attorney.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2-year-old boy found in cage at home in New York; mother arrested
yahoo
