Father Held in Apparent Beating Death of Boy, 2
A father was arrested on suspicion of murder after his 2-year-old son died of an apparent beating early Thursday, police said.
Juan Deras, 33, was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Van Nuys jail, said Los Angeles Police Officer Don Cox.
Paramedics were called to the family home in the 6900 block of Hazeltine Avenue on Wednesday night, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The caller told a dispatcher that the child had fallen, Collis said.
Detectives from the LAPD’s abused child unit later determined that the boy had been hit in the abdomen by his father, police said. The boy was pronounced dead about 1 a.m. at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys.
Police conducted an early morning investigation at the boy’s home before arresting Deras at 7:15 a.m., Cox said.
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