The mother of a 3 1/2-year-old boy was charged in Ramsey County District Court with burning the boy with a hot iron and hitting him with a belt.
Brittany N. Harris, 21, of St. Paul, faces one count of malicious punishment of a child, a gross misdemeanor.
According to the complaint filed Thursday, St. Paul police were called to the Lexington Kids Christian Child Care on a report of child abuse. The boy had told staff members that his mother burned him, and later he showed police a V-shaped burn on his right buttock. He also had several circular burns allegedly caused by the iron's steam vents. Doctors also found ligature marks that could have been the result of being hit with a belt. The boy was placed in a shelter.
Harris told police that the boy had rolled onto the hot iron while he was sleeping, the complaint said. She said the other marks resulted from him "being a clumsy child," the document said. She denied hitting him.
PAT PHEIFER
