An Arkansas couple remains in jail on child endangerment charges after failing to address a rat infestation in their home — until the rodents began to eat their 15-day-old infant!
According to official documents, Charles Elliot, 18, and Erica Shryock, 19, brought their baby to the hospital where medical personnel counted at least rate 100 bites on the child’s face, arms and hands — and recognized the need to call the cops on the miscreant parents.
The 5-pound baby required facial reconstruction surgery, and detectives say that the infant’s tender skull was visible through a forehead wound. Officials estimate that the rodent’s attack on the defenseless infant lasted several hours.
Shryock allegedly told police that she awoke early Sunday morning to the baby’s cries, and discovered that the child was covered in blood.
Elliot claimed to have been awakened earlier by the child’s cries and noticed bloody rat footprints in the baby’s crib, police allege, but took no action. In a later inspection of the home police noted bloody rodent footprints and feces.
Police say that Elliot and Shryock admitted that while they were aware that their home was rat infested, they did nothing to deal with it. What’s more, the police documents say the couple so feared losing their child that they held off on bringing the baby for medical treatment!
