A man and a woman were arrested in Utah and set to be charged with felony child abuse after their child was taken to the hospital with second-degree burns.
Daniel Mercer and Whittney Huber were arrested on Jan. 2.
Doctors told investigators that the brutal injuries all occurred over the previous two weeks.
A detective who investigated the case said that Mercer admitted to admitted to “recklessly causing the burns” to his infant daughter’s left hand. Neither parent would admit to causing the other injuries, but Mercer admitted to making threats against the child, at one point telling Huber he would “kill the baby and make her watch as the baby died.”
The detective said that Huber was likely involved in the child abuse but was also believed to be a victim of domestic abuse by Mercer, who was arrested for two domestic violence violations in the past two months.
But police said that Huber “continually allowed Daniel to return to the (apartment) where he assaults and abused both her and her child,” according to a statement of probable cause.
She “allowed Daniel to continue to live in and return to her State housing apartment which is supposed to be for her and the baby only,” the detective added.
In addition, both parents have extensive criminal histories, including drug possession, theft, and fraud.
The child was removed from her parents on Jan. 1, and was set to remain at the hospital as doctors determined a course of treatment.
“It is still to be determined whether the infant child will need surgeries of many sorts to repair the damage done to her little body,” according to the police report.
The detective recommended two counts of threat of violence, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, two counts of felony child abuse, some drug-related charges for Mercer, and one count of felony child abuse for Huber.
Neighbors Concerned
Neighbors of the couple said they were concerned about the baby’s welfare before learning of the extent of the child’s injuries.Megan Wayman, another neighbor, said that she would often babysit the child because her parents would leave her all alone.
She, too, had regrets.
Child Abuse
According to a report published by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (pdf), approximately 3.5 million children nationwide in 2016 were the subjects of at least one maltreatment reports to authorities. “Child abuse is one of the nation’s most serious concerns,” the authors of the report wrote in the introduction.About 17 percent of those reports were substantiated; the department said that there was an estimated 676,000 victims of child abuse and neglect, or 9.1 victims per 1,000 children.
Children in their first year of life had the highest rate of victimization at 24.8 per 1,000 children of the same age in the national population.
About three-quarters of the cases were neglect while about 18 percent were physical abuse. Some children suffered from multiple forms of maltreatment.
Of the perpetrators of the abuse, more than four-fifths were between the ages of 18 and 44 and more than one-half were women.