Man charged with injuring 2-year-old girl
Child suffered broken bones
Police say a man was high on heroin when he threw his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter across a bedroom Monday, leaving her hospitalized with broken bones and bruises.
Edwin Rodriguez Jr., 22, was arrested Tuesday after the child’s family chased him onto a high school campus and the school was placed on lockdown.
Rodriguez is charged with child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Rodriguez and his girlfriend brought the child to University of New Mexico Hospital around 9 p.m. Monday.
Police say the child had broken bones in her arm and leg, and bruising around her chest and head.
According to police, the child told doctors she fell off the bed but they did not believe her and called 911.
Rodriguez left the hospital before officers arrived. The mother told police she came home to find him holding the injured child and claiming she fell off the bed.
Police say the mother said Rodriguez is the only person who could have hurt the girl and that he “would not be allowed back in her home because anyone who hurts her kids will not be part of her life.”
The next day Rodriguez returned to the apartment where family members were waiting and chased him onto West Mesa High School property, leading to a lockdown of the school. Police say they arrested Rodriguez. Rodriguez told police he had taken heroin earlier in the day and hurt the child because he was “upset” that she “made a mess in his room.”
Police say Rodriguez spanked the girl, carried her to her room by the arm and threw her.
Rodriguez told police he “didn’t know his own strength” and “threw her really hard.”
Police say the girl flew “almost entirely” over the bed and struck the edge of the bed before hitting the floor.
Rodriguez told police the girl didn’t start crying until he tried to “stand her up” and saw that “something was wrong with her leg.”
“He was sorry for what he did and he felt better for telling the truth,” an officer wrote.