A Florida man allegedly slammed his foot down on his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son, causing a lacerated liver.
Court records show the Miami Gardens Police Department arrested 25-year-old Oscar Cedell Miller on Sept. 27 on a charge of child abuse.
Police first became aware of the case when the boy started complaining about stomach pain in late May before a trip to Fort Myers. The pain got so bad that his mother had to take him to a southwest Florida hospital, according to Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, which obtained a probable cause arrest affidavit.
Initially, doctors thought the boy had constipation issues and began treating him for it. However, the boy continued to have stomach pains so his doctors delved further into the situation, the affidavit reportedly said.
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“Medical staff discovered the victim had lacerations on his liver, which was consistent with physical trauma to the area,” cops reportedly wrote.
The boy’s mother mentioned to detectives that she left the children alone with Miller a couple days before the boy started having stomach issues. She reportedly said the boy was scared after she came home for a lunch break and he wanted to leave with her when she went back to work. She also noticed some bruising on the left side of the boy’s face. The mother asked what happened and the boy reportedly said that Miller hit him in the stomach with a “closed fist.”
He was taken to the Children’s Advocacy Center of South Florida for an interview. He told cops that his “tummy needed medicine” and that Miller “stepped on my tummy with his foot,” the affidavit reportedly said. Miller was “being mean” to him, he said. In an interview with police, Miller claimed the boy “pooped on the floor” so he had to “discipline him” but he denied hitting the boy, per cops.
The mother and the children moved out of the home the next day, he said.
Cops took Miller to the Miami-Dade Jail where he has since posted a $10,000 bond.
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