Police: Mother Dragged 2-Year-Old By Hair, Threw Her Into Crib
PENN TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A mother in Penn Township is accused of dragging her 2-year-old daughter by the hair and throwing her into her crib, giving the child a black eye.
According to a criminal complaint, on Tuesday, 37-year-old Jamie Garish grabbed her 2-year-old daughter by the hair and dragged her from the kitchen to her bedroom, which was about 25 feet away. Garish then lifted her daughter by her hair and threw her into her crib.
Police say the child's face hit the corner of the crib, causing her eye to become bruised and swollen.
Garish's husband told police that they got into an argument after the incident, and Garish then left the house. He told police the child had been crying in the kitchen and that's what had upset his wife.
He called police on Thursday to their home in the Penn Heights mobile park to report Garish as missing.
In addition to the toddler's black eye, police said they saw what appeared to be dried blood on the crib mattress.
The criminal complaint says police found Garish in the parking lot of the Penn Rod and Gun Club. When police questioned her, she said she didn't know how her daughter got a black eye.
Police placed Garish under arrest. She is facing charges of child endangerment, simple assault, and reckless endangerment.
She remains behind bars in the Westmoreland County Prison.
When told about the alleged child abuse, neighbors were distressed.
"I think it's terrible, I really do. They need to clean it up up there. I seen the police up there yesterday on four different occasions, I didn't know what was going on," neighbor Paul Reidmiller said. "Yeah, it was bad."
Another neighbor, Nancy Caralli, said, "It's horrendous. The child should be taken until she can learn mothering skills."
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