Toddler In Critical Condition After Suffering Burns
Updated 02/14/14 - 10:36 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A toddler was fighting for his life Friday morning, after paramedics found him inside a South Shore apartment with burns on most of his body.
The child's mother is under investigation by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports.
The 20-month-old boy was in critical condition Friday morning at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital. He suffered severe burns on most of his body; including his head, face, and chest.
Police found him around 7:45 p.m. Thursday inside his home, an apartment at 69th Street and Cornell Avenue.
Detectives were questioning his parents and others who were at the home at the time, to determine how the boy was burned.
Police said they have not yet determined if it was an accident, or a case of neglect or abuse.
A woman who lives upstairs from the family said the boy's mother knocked on her door last night and said she needed to call police.
She said the woman was frantic, and told the 911 operator "that something was wrong with her baby, and that they needed to hurry up and get here quickly."
Tasha said she found out later the baby had been burned.
"When I first heard about it, it just made me hug my own baby," she said.
The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services was investigating the boy's mother for allegations of neglect, according to spokeswoman Veronica Resa. DCFS has not had any prior reports regarding the family.
