A man accused of beating his girlfriend’s two-year-old son to death with a toy dog as a punishment has been seized by police in Tennessee.
The helpless tot – not named in local media – was beaten senseless with the braided toy and a belt before accused Anthony D. Andrews shoved him into a corner.
Andrews, 22, had been looking after the boy while his girlfriend was sleeping and first told police he had fallen off his bed.
He was arrested the next morning on 4th September after Memphis Police and Fire Departments raced to a 911 call.
A police arrest affidavit says the boy was “not breathing and bleeding from the mouth, with bruising on the abdomen, sides, and back, as well as a long bruise on the right side of his face that went from the forehead area to the lower jaw.”
Medics, though, could not revive the unnamed boy who was later declared dead after being taken to hospital.
The child’s mother, also unnamed, told police she had last seen her son in good health at about 11:15pm the night before.
Police documents say she was aware of the brutal punishment beatings carried out on her son by Andrews.
The affidavit says: “She was aware that Mr Andrews disciplines her child and has seen him use a belt or braided dog toy to strike the child when disciplining him.”
It went on saying she told police she had “recently noticed excess bruising and wounds on her child but was told by Mr Andrews that the child had fallen out of bed.”
The document says Andrews confessed to hitting the boy “harder than he should” and beating him hours before he died.
It explains: “During the statement, Anthony Andrews admitted to hitting the child with a belt ‘harder than he should’ a few weeks before this incident, as well as striking the child seven to eight times with a braided dog toy in the back, face, and buttocks area on the morning of 4th September 2023.”
The document goes on: “Andrews also admitted to striking the child with an open hand in the chest at least once or twice before shoving the child into a corner.”
He had originally claimed to police that he then put the child to bed but called 911 when he fell out of bed a few minutes later.
Andrews has so far been charged with one count of aggravated child neglect and one count of aggravated child abuse.
He is being held at the Shelby County Detention Center on a USD 250,000 (GBP 199,090) bond and is due in court on 7th September.
