By Terrica Hendrix
News-Leader staff
The Nashville Police Department is investigating an incident at a local daycare that allegedly injured baby.
According to a police report dated Aug. 18, the NPD was dispatched to Howard Memorial Hospital in reference to an injured child.
“Upon arrival, I spoke with the ER nurse Sarah Terrell, who said that a child was brought in by his mother with multiple bite marks on his body,” Officer Tim Bowlin stated in his incident report.
He said that he spoke to LaToya Griffin, the mother of the injured baby, “who stated she dropped off her son [the name of the baby withheld] at Alphabet Daycare [Alphabet Academy] on South Main Street, yesterday (Friday, Aug. 17) morning and went to work at Tyson Foods plant in Nashville.
Griffin told Bowlin that around 1:45 p.m., the owner/manager of the daycare, Dominique Lofton, called Tyson Foods and told her she needed to get to the daycare immediately.
“Griffin said when she arrived, Lofton was holding [the injured baby] who was covered in bite marks. Lofton said that a 2-year-old boy, who also stays at the daycare, climbed into the baby bed with [the baby] and apparently started biting him and [the baby] was unable to get away from the 2-year-old.
When Griffin asked Lofton why she didn’t stop the attack, Lofton said [the baby] never cried so she didn’t know it happened until it was over,” Bowlin stated.
The 10-month-old baby had bite marks on his head, ears, face, stomach, shoulder, arms, legs, and back.
According to the report, “the baby had more than 30 different bite marks on several areas.”
Several of the bite marks broke the skin, causing bleeding and swelling on the child, the officer added.
Another daycare worker, Shanise Witherspoon, was not present during the incident and Officer Bowlin noted in his report that Lofton said there was a boy that regularly attends the daycare and old enough to tell what happened but that she did not recall the child’s last name.
