Young
A local man accused of inflicting serious injuries on a toddler, including multiple broken bones, has entered into a plea agreement in Bartholomew Circuit Court.
Thomas Michael Young, 35, of 2935 Rosewood Lane was formally charged with domestic battery with serious bodily injury to a person under 14 as a Level 3 felony. He was also charged with neglect of a dependent as a Level 6 felony.
The 2-year-old male victim emigrated with his mother from Columbia to Bartholomew County a short time before the boy was hospitalized, according to a probable cause affidavit. The mother and the defendant met through an online dating service, and Young invited the woman and her son to come stay with him, according to a probable cause affidavit.
On July 4, 2022, Indiana State Police learned of a possible child battery that resulted in a boy being transferred from Columbus Regional Hospital to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. After arriving at Riley, a case manager with the Indiana Deparetment of Child Services told officers the boy had a broken femur, a broken arm and several bruises that physicians say appeared to be intentionally inflicted, the affidavit states.
During his first interview with investigators, Young said the toddler likely injured himself by falling in a bathtub while standing to be cleaned, according to the court document. While the mother gave police the same story, two hospital physicians told investigators the child’s injuries were not consistent with what the adults claimed, court documents state.
A pediatrician said she suspected the boy’s broken forearm was caused by a direct blow or a torqueing motion, such as an adult wrapping a hand around an arm and twisting, May wrote. Bruising on the child’s hip and thigh areas was indicative of multiple impacts, the affidavit states.
Young was informed during a second interview that the physicians didn’t believe his explanation. The defendant said that, other than a few spankings, he had never touched the boy, May wrote. The defendant gave other possible explanations such as tumbling off stairs or falling during a hike as causes for the injuries, according to the court documents.
Later, Young admitted he had whipped the boy, even after the child’s mother asked him to stop striking the toddler, the master trooper wrote.
When Young was asked for his cellphone, the defendant demanded a search warrant as he held the phone away from the officer, the affidavit states.
Young also got out of the vehicle to talk to the relative. But when he reentered the patrol vehicle on his own accord, it gave state police legal grounds to seize the phone as evidence, the affidavit states.
Nearly three weeks after the phone was taken, May learned the child and his mother were in a domestic abuse treatment center. The woman was now saying both she and her son were physically assaulted by Young, court documents state.
Using an interpreter, the mother told investigators that Young had ordered her to back up his story to police about the toddler slipping in the bathtub.
Her own account of events was that when she went into a bedroom to investigate a loud thud, and saw Young holding her son against his chest. But when the toddler cried louder as he reached for his mother Young pushed the woman away before slamming the child down onto the floor and striking the top of his thigh so hard he couldn’t immediately stand up, the senior trooper wrote.
She also told the officers that bruises on the toddler’s forehead were caused by Young pushing the child’s head into the wall, according to the affidavit.
