A Minnesota mother has been arrested after she admitted to pushing her 11-year-old son off their fourth-floor apartment and seriously injuring him.
Itayvia Lloyd, 33, has, however, not explained the motive behind her action to the police, according to The Associated Press. She is facing charges of aggravated assault, malicious punishment of a child as well as assault of a police officer.
The police responded to the scene of the incident on Monday after they received a call from a resident reporting the victim had likely jumped from the balcony. The boy was found on the courtyard of the St. Paul apartment complex with severe injuries, police spokesman Steve Linders said.
The boy suffered a broken leg, fractured jaw and other head injuries, the Associated Press further reports.
Upon interrogation, Lloyd confessed to dragging her son from his bed and pushing him off the balcony. She, however, did not tell the police why she did it.
“It makes no sense,” Linders said. “These are some of the most difficult calls that officers respond to — because many are parents themselves.”
The boy’s six-year-old sibling, who was in the house when he was pushed off the balcony, was unharmed.
In a related story, a Florida father was arrested in February for attacking and severely injuring his 10-year-old daughter and her half-sister with a machete.
Dennis Reid, 47, had shown up at the home of the girls in Lauderhill on the morning of Friday, February 14, to take care of them while their mother prepared to travel to Jamaica. He later attacked them with the machete.
The 7-year-old sister of the victims witnessed the incident but was not harmed.
The police, who at the time of this report were yet to find out what could have prompted the attack, said they were called to the home around 10 am by a neighbor who heard serious screaming.
“We received a frantic call stating that there was an individual chopping up females,” said Lauderhill police spokesman Lt. Michael Santiago.
He said Reid slashed the 10-year-old on her neck while her 17-year-old sister suffered cuts to her head, hand and wrist.
“It’s devastating,” Santiago said. “These were some severe injuries.”