Gainesville Police arrested a man accused of child abuse after an injured toddler arrived at the emergency room.
Police charged Dallis Brandon Young, 22, of 1425 SW 42nd St., with aggravated child abuse early Thursday, according to a GPD arrest report.
At about 2 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a call at Pediatric Emergency Room at Shands at UF to assist the Florida Department of Children and Families in a child abuse case, police said.
A 23-month-old toddler was brought to the emergency room with a fractured hip and heavy bleeding on her chest and face, according to the report.
Young, a dietary technician at the Gainesville Health Care Center and the toddler’s stepfather, told medical staff that the child fell from a couch, according to the report.
The staff knew Young had lied to them, because the child’s injuries did not match Young’s story.
Young changed his story several times when he talked to police. Officers then took him to the GPD Criminal Investigation Division for questioning.
Meanwhile, emergency room staff performed surgery on the child, police said.
After being questioned for about two hours, Young told detectives his previous four stories were false and explained what had happened.
On Wednesday evening, Young left the child alone in the kitchen for about 10 minutes.
While he was out of the kitchen, the toddler poured a box of infant cereal onto the ground near the kitchen table.
According to the report, when Young got back, he lost his temper and threw the child about 7 feet from the kitchen onto the living room couch.
The child landed between the couch and an ottoman. Young walked over and pushed the child down in the space between the two pieces of furniture, which broke the toddler’s left hip, according to the report.
After his arrest, Young told police he was sorry about what had happened and wanted to get help for his anger problem, according to the report.
Police booked Young into Alachua County Jail at 2:44 a.m. Thursday. As of press time, Young remained in jail with a bond set at $5,000.
Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.
