By Bill Lindelof and Chelsea Phua
blindelof@sacbee.com
Sacramento police say they have arrested the father and step-mother of a 3-year-old child who is in critical condition after suffering an apparent beating.
The child is in critical condition at UC Davis Medical Center.
Detectives say they believe that the child's injuries to his head and bruising to his body were caused by an assault by his father, Adrian Ramon McRath (far left), 19, and his step-mother, Dayshawna Nichole Lawrence (left), 22, on Tuesday.
Both were booked into Sacramento County Jail today on suspicion of endangering the life of a child and inflicting corporal injury to a child.
McRath was also booked for felony violation of probation.
Lawrence was also booked on outstanding warrants related to theft and failure to appear in court connected to not paying a Regional Transit fare.
Both suspects are being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
An investigation is ongoing so police are not releasing all details of the case.
However, police confirmed that at 6:43 p.m. Tuesday the Sacramento Fire Department responded to an Oak Park apartment complex in the 2700 block of 32nd Street where a child had been hurt.
Police homicide detectives and crime scene investigators were called to the scene because of the suspicious nature of the child's injuries.
The initial investigation by detectives revealed that earlier in the day the little boy was physically disciplined by McRath and Lawrence, police said.
Later in the day, the McRath left the house. In the evening, police said, Lawrence heard a noise when the child went into the bathroom.
When Lawrence checked on the child, the boy was unconscious.
He was carried to a neighbor's apartment where 911 was called, prompting emergency response.
A Child Protective Services worker took a 5-month-old baby, believed to be the injured boy's brother, from the complex as a precaution.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
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