SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A California man is behind bars after police said he stomped on the head of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son, killing him.
According to KCAL-TV and the Desert Sun, San Bernardino police arrested Santos Rodriguez, 24, of Desert Hot Springs, on a murder charge Sunday, hours after the toddler died at an area hospital on Saturday.
In a Facebook post Sunday, San Bernardino police said officers began investigating the death Sunday after responding to the hospital, where doctors determined the child had suffered severe head trauma. Rodriguez, the boyfriend of the child’s mother, first claimed that the toddler “had fallen off a Razor scooter and struck his head on the pavement,” the post said.
Rodriguez later “admitted to losing his temper and repeatedly stomping the child’s head into the ground” at a West Victoria Street home, according to the post.
Rodriguez was jailed without bail at the San Bernardino County West Valley Detention Center, the post said.