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SALT LAKE CITY — Unified police on Wednesday confirmed detectives were conducting a child abuse investigation involving a 1-year-old boy and the boy's day care provider.
As of Wednesday, no arrests had been made as detectives continued to collect more evidence. Police also confirmed that the boy was still in life-threatening condition.
The investigation began Nov. 28. About five hours after the toddler was dropped off at his day care provider's house, the 27-year-old woman called the boy's mother to report he had fallen down the carpeted stairs, according to a search warrant affidavit unsealed in 3rd District Court. The boy fell between six to eight stairs, the warrant states.
After doctors at Primary Children's Hospital examined the boy, however, they called Unified police because they "felt that the injuries to (the boy) were not consistent with an accidental fall down a carpeted staircase," according to the warrant.
The toddler "was found to have a severe brain hemorrhage. He was taken into surgery. At this point it is still unknown if he will survive the injury," the officer wrote in his warrant.
"Scene investigation shows a relatively short flight of stairs (6 stairs, carpeted). The degree of injury observed in (the toddler) is more than is typically observed in a healthy child who had a simple fall down the stairs. Additionally, there were no signs of external injuries to the head that would be expected in an accidental fall with such significant intracranial injury," the warrant continued.
The warrant was written to search the day care provider's cellphone.
