A 39-year-old mother from Texas is accused of beating her young daughter over the head with a wall as punishment. She is reported to have admitted to the abuse and then inquired incredulously if such behavior was indeed unlawful before instructing the victim and her siblings to lie to the police.
Katherine Crosby was arrested and charged with one count of felony child injury earlier this month.
On June 6, a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator discovered that Crosby’s daughter had a bruised and swollen black eye, according to a probable cause affidavit. The girl’s age is deleted from the records, but it is claimed to be less than 14. “When someone in their house gets mad, they get punched, their nose gets broken, they get black eyes, or their head gets banged into the door,” the kid told the law enforcement officer.
The victim told the police, “My mom did this to me and it hurt really bad,” the affidavit says. She said that her mom Katherine Crosby put her in the corner for being bad and then walked over to her, grabbed the back of her head by her ponytail, and slammed her head into the wall, which caused the black eve. The victim told the police that her mother did this because she was mad at her. Once more, she said it “hurt really bad.”
Crosby’s kid reported to police that on June 5, her mother gave her a black eye. She added that this was not the first time she had been assaulted in this fashion. According to police, she also claimed that her mother did not take her to the doctor or treat her injury with ice.
Crosby is claimed to have admitted to harming her daughter during a subsequent police questioning.
That’s what the affidavit says: “Crosby admitted to hitting the victim in the head against the wall.” Cross said, ‘Yes I did it.’” Then Crosby showed how she did it, which was the same way the victim said it happened. Crosby asked, “What am I not able to do?” The police officer told her that was child abuse and she couldn’t do that to her child or children.
Crosby, the alleged victim, and the alleged victim’s sisters all went to the Garth House on June 26 for forensic interviews and questioning. Before they ever spoke with the police, the alleged victim and her sisters said that their mother “told them to lie” and “say that she didn’t physically harm” the victim.
Crosby instructed the woman to inform the police that “she fell on a brick, and that’s why her eye was black and swollen,” the girl stated. According to police, the victim’s sisters claimed that their mother encouraged them to state that a brick harmed their sibling.
The victim then asked, “Wait, was I supposed to say that I tripped on a brick? That’s what my mom told me to say,” the affidavit says.
Crosby allegedly tried to change her story regarding her initial confession so that the CPS investigator would ask the children again about her daughter’s injury during their next appointment.
“I want you to ask the girls again, in front of me, what happened to [the victim’s] eye because they will all tell you that I did not do anything to [the victim],” she said, per the statement.
According to records, Crosby was arrested on July 9 and brought to Tyler County Jail on a $125,000 bond. He was released the following day. Her next hearing date was not immediately available.