An Indiana man has been accused of holding a toddler under hot water as a punishment for a soiled diaper.
Dennis Tannen, 29, was watching his girlfriend’s son while she was at work. Tannen told police that he had put the 2-year-old in the bathtub and left him for “10 seconds,” and when he came back the child had turned on the hot water, burning himself.
The toddler’s mother told police that Tannen called her and told her about the burn. When she rushed home, she saw her boyfriend sitting outside smoking a cigarette. The toddler had large burn marks on his face that looked like his skin was falling off when she first saw him.
The toddler was taken to the hospital where doctors noticed bruising on his chest and face and that the child’s injuries did not match Tannen’s story.
Tannen came clean after being questioned and told police that he was waiting for a phone call when the toddler had a bowel movement in his diaper. He said he became very agitated and went to wash the child off in the bathtub, turning the water on “full hot” and holding him under it to wash him off.
He then grabbed the toddler’s face and put it under the same hot water and that the child had slipped when he was holding him and he grabbed him, which caused the bruises on the child’s chest.
Tannen was arrested and charged with felony neglect of a dependent.
