AFFIDAVIT: TODDLER COULD HAVE DIED

A toddler who was found unresponsive last week in her mother’s lap at a Denver elementary school was at risk of dying from injuries that included severe head trauma and a lacerated liver, according to the Jefferson County arrest affidavit for a man now charged with abusing the child.

Joshua James Gonzales, 21, surrendered to authorities Sunday night, walking into the county jail lobby at 9 p.m., accompanied by family members, said Jenny Fulton, a sheriff’s spokeswoman. He’s been charged with child abuse resulting in serious injury.

Investigators had been looking for Gonzales since Thursday, when a bystander called 911 to report an injured child was outside Doull Elementary School with her mother. Authorities said earlier that the girl’s injuries likely occurred last Monday.

Medical personnel who responded to the report found the girl lying in the lap of her mother, Melissa Mangeri, who is also Gonzales’ girlfriend, according to the affidavit.

Believing she might be choking, the medical personnel delivered blows to the child’s back, and she coughed up large amounts of brown mucus. When they removed her clothing, they observed bruising on her genitals and elsewhere on her body. She was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, where doctors found she had a lacerated liver and severe head trauma.