Charges Against Mother Reduced, Father Remains In Jail After Toddler Burned By Hot Tomato Sauce
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MONESSEN (KDKA) -- A Westmoreland County man remains in jail after police say he dipped his toddler son's hands in hot tomato sauce and hit him so hard he left a bruise. The child's mother was also facing charges, but those have now been reduced.
Amanda Billion was in court on Friday, where she says a charge of child neglect that Monessen Police had arrested her on was reduced to disorderly conduct.
Her baby, a 19-month-old son named David Jackson III, is doing much better now after doctors at UPMC Children's Hospital, over the summer, determined he was physically abused. He's in a foster home for the time being.
The boy's father, David Jackson Jr., was also charged in the case. He remains locked up in the Westmoreland County Prison.
Billion told KDKA-TV News Friday night that besides doctors at Children's Hospital notifying officials about the abuse in July, she did the right thing, too.
"We called the police," Billion said. "I did everything I was asked. I let CYS take pictures of him; I took him to the hospital. I did everything I was supposed to do as a parent."
The child suffered bruises on his buttocks, and police said, his father dipped the baby's hands and fingers in hot tomato sauce.
"He had smacked him with his [diaper] on. We could actually hear it because there is a baby monitor on," Billion said. "He did have a little bit of burns. I don't know, I wasn't in the room, I don't know if he did it or he didn't do it. I have a family member that is telling me, 'Yes, I watched him do it.'"
Billon said her family and friends know she's a caring mother, but on Facebook, she says she has been the subjected to wrongful, hateful criticism.
"The people that do not know me, they have been slandering my name all over Facebook, saying things like, 'I hope you die and rot.' They don't even know me, they don't know the full story," she said.
Police say the alleged abuse happened at the couple's home in Monessen.