Mother's boyfriend charged in death of two-year-old child
RACINE- A man faces charges Tuesday of first degree reckless homicide and physical abuse of a child in the death of a two-year-old girl from Racine.
Bail is set at $500,000 for Andre Knighton.
Prosecutors say Knighton, 21, is accused of slamming his girlfriend's daughter, Donnasia Jackson, into a floor from waist height several times, apparently because she was crying.
Investigators claim Knighton was smoking marijuana as the girl slowly died from her injuries.
According to the criminal complaint, Racine Police were dispatched to a Wheaton Franciscan emergency room in reference to a possible child abuse report.
The child's mother, Cheyenna W. Cheyenna, told authorities her daughter had fallen over a board going into the house and fell face first on the ground.
The hospital staff informed Racine Police that the child's injuries were not consistent with the mother's story.
An officer then talked to her boyfriend, Andre Knighton, and noticed observed abrasions and bruising/discoloration on the top of Knighton's right hand.
Knighton said he picked up Cheyenna's three kids, dropped two of them off at the babysitter's then took the other child to 1314 Owen Street to change her and clean her up.
The child started fussing, so he tried spanking the child, then "dropped" the victim on her back, and the back of her head repeatedly while the victim was crying and throwing a fuss.
Knighton stated that every time he went to pick the victim up, she would squirm and cry. Knighton stated that this action caused him to throw her down approximately 12 to 15 times on the tiled kitchen floor with some force from approximately waist level high.
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