MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - A 23-year-old Maryland woman has been charged with child abuse after authorities discovered her 14-month-old boy had been treated for a brain injury due to a car key being lodged in his head.
The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown reports Brittnie Polm was arraigned this week in West Virginia's Berkeley County court on several charges, including child abuse resulting in injury.
West Virginia State Police Cpl. F.H. Edwards says the child's scalp and skull were punctured, and there was bleeding in the brain.
Edwards says Polm initially told police she swung her car keys at her then-boyfriend during an argument, with the keys accidentally string the child. Polm later said the child was actually left unattended with the keys and fell off a table.
Polm then told a case worker the toddler had been running with the keys and fell.