A Whetstone woman has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and child abuse days after her son was hospitalized with severe head injures, officials said.
The case started Monday when investigators were called to Banner University of Arizona Medical Center where the nine-year-old boy had been admitted, the Cochise County Sheriff's Department said in a news release Thursday.
The boy has Downs Syndrome and is unable to speak. Along with his head injuries doctors found evidence of fractures to his ribs and spine that were in various stages of healing.
His mother, Nakia Brice, 34, initially claimed the boy was injured when he fell from a tree.
Later she told investigators that she repeatedly struck the boy on his head and body with a baseball bat while defending herself as her son was "acting out" by biting, kicking and scratching, the release said.
People are also reading…
Detectives seized the bat allegedly used in the incident and arrested Brice Wednesday afternoon. Brice was booked into the Cochise County jail on four counts of aggravated assault and one count of child abuse.
