Leon County Jail
TAMPA (WFLA) – Tallahassee police say a woman accused in the death of a 3-year-old boy hit him repeatedly with a tire iron.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Jefferson brought the unresponsive boy to the emergency room at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital at 6:58 p.m. with severe trauma to his head and face.
The toddler had a body temperature of 88 degrees when he arrived at the ER. He was pronounced dead six minutes later by hospital staff, who called Tallahassee police.
According to WCTV, Jefferson told responding officers the boy fell after standing on the sink while brushing his teeth. Jefferson claimed the toilet broke in the boy’s fall, and broken pieces of porcelain caused cuts on the boy’s body.
However, Tallahassee police say the victim’s injuries and evidence at the scene did not appear to be consistent with the version of events Jefferson had provided and said the child’s injuries were inconsistent with the fall she described, as well as a lack of continuity in her timeline of events.
Jefferson later admitted to police that she used a metal tire iron to hit the boy several times.
When officers asked Jefferson if she used physical punishment on the boy before, she said he was “stubborn and often required more strikes or blows than his older sibling.”
In the wake of the charges, Tallahassee police are encouraging people to report child abuse by calling police at 850-891-4200, Crime Stoppers at 850-570-TIPS or the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873.
