Family to take 'violently' beaten 3-year-old off life support
The 3-year-old boy suspected to have been savagely beaten by his mother's boyfriend will be taken off life-support Saturday after suffering irreversible brain damage, his family has said.
In a posting on the family's GiveForward page, it says that relatives will say their goodbyes to little Dante Sears, of Sandstone, at the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.
It says that brain surgery on Tuesday failed to help him, and medically there is nothing more that doctors can do for him.
They had planned to take him off life-support on his third birthday, which was Thursday, but decided to hold off to sort out organ donations.
"They [his family] are hoping he can be a hero in another child's life! Dante you are an amazing little man!!" it says on the page.
His mother, Jessie Carr, was planning on taking him on a trip to the zoo this Monday to celebrate his birthday. The website notes she had recently taken on a 3rd job to help provide for her son.
The GiveForward page is raising money to help with Dante's medical and funeral bills. So far it has raised $1,430.
Boyfriend charged
Carr's boyfriend, Jonathan Loun, was charged with first-degree assault, malicious punishment of a child and third-degree assault, the Duluth News Tribune reports he was arraigned Thursday in State District Court in Pine City.
The 31-year-old was babysitting on Monday night when the charges say he became upset with the child and "violently assaulted him," the newspaper notes.
Carr returned home from work a little after 7 a.m. Tuesday to find her son bleeding and unconscious in his crib, the Star Tribune reports.
He suffered a skull fracture that had gone untreated for several hours, with bruises and injuries found around his neck and penis.
Loun was said to have been found by police in a wooded area northwest of Pine City hours later.
