A California man is behind bars facing murder, torture, and child abuse charges after he allegedly beat a 6-year-old boy to death for peeing his pants at a park.
Ernest Lamar Love, 41, accepted to babysit Chance Crawford on Thursday while his mother worked a night shift as a nurse’s assistant.
The barber, who met the child’s mother at a church, allegedly beat Chance with a piece of lumber, poured hydrogen peroxide on his open injuries, and forced him to do push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks, police said.
Chance was brought unconscious to a hospital at around 1:30 a.m. There, doctors determined he suffered from brain swelling and bleeding and noticed he had raw wounds and missing skin from his buttocks.
The first-grader succumbed to the injuries Tuesday afternoon.
“Words do not exist to describe the absolute terror this little boy was forced to endure – all at the hands of someone who was supposed to be protecting him, not torturing him to death,” Orange County DA Todd Spitzer said.
The victim’s father said his son “lived a happy life” but “didn’t get to live the rest of life.”
“He didn’t even die peacefully. He died a tragic death, and it’s not fair,” Vance Crawford said.
“I love my son. I miss him so much. He didn’t deserve that.”
