Ohio woman brutally assaults five-year-old grandson, calls 911 the next evening after child dies from injuries
TOLEDO, OHIO: An Ohio grandmother is facing multiple charges after she allegedly hit her grandson so hard that he became "lethargic and semi-unresponsive" before dying from his injuries as she did not call for help for more than a day.
The Toledo Fire Department responded to a residence in the 3500 block of Hilltop Village on Thursday, September 19, after receiving a call from Yisenya Flores, 45, who reported that her five-year-old grandson Anjuan M. Hare III had injured himself and was unconscious after falling from a bed, according to WTVG.
She told first responders that he had jumped from a box spring mattress laying on its side onto a carpeted floor and hurt himself. Life-saving measures were administered on the young boy before he was transported to ProMedica Toledo Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Staff members subsequently informed the authorities that Anjuan's injuries were not consistent with a fall from a bed as Flores had claimed, and in an interview, the 45-year-old admitted to hitting the boy the previous day and not calling 911 until the next evening even though he was "lethargic and semi-unresponsive", and was unable to get up from the floor after she hit him.
During the autopsy, Lucas County Coroner Dr. Diane Scala-Barnett also discovered evidence that Anjuan had been suffering from Battered Child Syndrome, which means that the child had older blunt-force traumas that were healing and indicated that the abuse was ongoing.
She ruled his death a homicide, and Flores was charged with felony child endangering in connection with the death of Anjuan.
Flores made her first appearance at the Toledo Municipal Court on Friday during an arraignment on the child-endangering charge and was ordered to be held at the Lucas County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
A murder charge was added to her rap sheet on Saturday, and the 45-year-old is scheduled to face a judge for the new charge this coming Monday. Jail records show she also separately faces nine motor-vehicle counts, including driving without a license.