A 2-year-old boy is in extremely critical condition Tuesday night after allegedly being beaten by a 23-year-old man in Norwalk Sunday, officials said.
Authorities responded to Miller’s Children’s Hospital after reports of a toddler suffering from what appears to be blunt force trauma, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
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Detectives learned that deputies had responded on Sunday to reports of the baby not breathing in the 11400 block of Maza Street. When they arrived, the boy was found unresponsive and taken to the hospital, officials said.
The boy’s mother had apparently left the toddler to be cared for at the location. The investigation led authorities to Elder Matamoros, the boyfriend of the boy’s babysitter, officials said.
"Know the person or the people that you’re leaving your child in care of, and the possible the people who may come to that location while the baby was there," Deputy Kim Mannatt said.
How authorities were led to Matamoros was not made clear.
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Matamoros was charged with cruelty to a child likely to produce great bodily injury or death, and is being held on $100,000 bail.
"If (the toddler) were to pass then obviously the district attorney would probably go forward with murder charges," Mannatt said.
Neighbors tell NBC4 that at the time of the incident, Matamoros had come out of the house and asked neighbors for help. Though he didn't speak English, from what they understood, Matamoros was trying to explain somehow that the baby fell while in the shower.
