Cd’A woman charged with child abuse
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 2 months AGO
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | August 3, 2023 1:00 AM
COEUR d’ALENE — Police arrested a woman who allegedly attacked her child in a hotel room.
The 44-year-old Coeur d’Alene resident is charged with injury to a child, a felony.
Sheriff’s deputies responded around 1 a.m. Wednesday to the Triple Play Resort Hotel in Hayden, where two girls had run to the front desk and asked an employee to call 911.
A 12-year-old girl told police she was staying at the hotel with her mother and an 11-year-old friend.
The girl said her mother had been “drinking all day” and, after becoming agitated, put a pillow over the girl’s face and attempted to smother her. The woman then threw the other child out of the hotel room, according to court documents.
When her daughter tried to leave the room, the woman allegedly grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the room and beat her about the head and back with a wooden clothes hanger.
She allegedly hit the girl hard enough to break the hanger, then tried to stab her with it.
The girl said her mother threatened to throw her out the window and tried to throw her against a closed window, but wasn’t strong enough. She told police she believed her mother was trying to kill her and she thought she was going to die.
Police observed fresh welts and cuts on the girl’s body. Her shoulder also appeared injured and possibly dislocated, according to court documents.
The girl was placed in the custody of another family member, who took her to Kootenai Health.
When questioned by police, the woman reportedly made derogatory comments about her daughter and said she didn’t know how the girl was injured.
Police arrested the woman at the scene.
In June, the woman was cited for misdemeanor injury. She has pleaded not guilty. In Idaho, whether the offense is a misdemeanor or a felony depends on the severity of associated injuries.
Judge Timothy Van Valin ordered Wednesday that the woman be held on $5,000 bail.
Felony injury to a child is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In an ongoing effort to prevent further harm, The Press will not name the suspect at this time, as it could also identity the victim.
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