Toddler On Life Support at St Marys; Mother Charged With Assault
Mankato, MN (KROC AM News) - A Mankato woman was arrested Thursday in Rochester where her 16-month-old child is reported to be brain dead at St. Marys Hospital.
27-year-old Chelsea Olinger was arraigned Friday on a first-degree assault charge and her conditional bail was set at $500,000.
The criminal complaint says the child was not breathing and had no pulse when Olinger brought the child to a Mankato Hospital on Monday. Following an emergency procedure, the toddler was transferred to Rochester, where Mayo Clinic doctors found the child had severe head injuries and bleeding on the brain, seven rib fractures, two broken vertebrae, and a lacerated liver. Court documents indicate the toddler is on life support.
Olinger told investigators the child had fallen down some steps and was unresponsive when she found the child. She later said the child’s head may hit the side of a crib as she tried to put the child back to sleep several times. Olinger told an investigator she was frustrated because of the child’s crying and “covered the child’s mouth with her hand to silence” the child. A Mayo Clinic doctor told investigators the injuries are not consistent with a fall down some stairs but “were consistent with non-accidental trauma.”
Olinger has another child.
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