GRANDVIEW, Mo. — Police say that a person is in custody after a young child was taken to an area hospital on Thursday with life-threatening injuries.
Police say that officers and fire crews responded to a report of a child not breathing in the 6100 block of E. 126th Street around 11:15 a.m.on Thursday morning. A two-year-old girl was taken from the scene to Children’s Mercy Hospital, where she was admitted with life-threatening injuries.
Joshua A. Coleman, 21, faces first-degree assault charges. He is currently in custody in the Jackson County Jail. Prosecutors have requested a $250,000 cash-only bond.
According to court records, hospital staff alerted police that the child’s injuries were not consistent with her father’s story that she had fallen off a couch. In addition, prosecutors say that Coleman told the victim’s mother on Wednesday that he had become angry with the child, and he stated that “your daughter almost died last night and you think it is funny,” before he hung up.
Prosecutors say that Coleman told officers he disciplined the child by striking her with a belt, knocking her to the ground and forcefully clapping the child on both sides of the head around the ears. He said he was striking her several times in the buttocks with a belt when she fell off the couch and struck her head.
