Woman charged with child abuse after allegedly giving one-year-old son a tattoo
A Kentucky woman has been arrested and faces child abuse charges after allegedly tattooing her one-year-old child at her home in Adair County.
27-year-old mom Brook McDaniel was placed into handcuffs on Monday, May 4, after Kentucky State Police received a child abuse complaint about her and attended her home in Monticello.
A police arrest citation alleges that the mom had used a tattoo gun at home and ended up leaving some permanent ink on her 22-year-old son's skin. The tattooing of all children under 16 is classified as assault or child abuse in the state.
After officers attended her home, McDaniel reportedly admitted to putting ink on her child's skin, saying that she had 'been tattooing her leg, and the child walked up to her and stuck his arm in the way of her tattoo gun.'
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State troopers added that they had assessed the child at the scene and spotted a 'black dot tattoo on his right forearm with redness around the area', confirming the report they had received, Lex18 reported.
But their report shows that some witnesses provided a different version of events to that offered by the mom.
Several witnesses allegedly told law enforcement at the scene that McDaniel had given her infant the tattoo at his own request, reportedly telling the troopers it was a 'party dot tattoo and that he [the child] wanted the tattoo.'
Now McDaniel is facing a fourth-degree assault-child abuse charge for her suppose slip up, which left a singular small black spot on her one-year-old's skin.
On Monday, McDaniel was booked at the Adair County Regional Jail on a $5,000 bond for the Class A Misdemeanor, with no public record of when she will appear in court.
But the mom's reported claim of accidentally tattooing her child appears to run counter to the state's rules around tattooing.
Kentucky state regulation 902 KAR 45:065, Section 7 states: "(1) A person shall not perform any tattoo procedure on a minor without custodial parent or legal guardian consent.
"(2) A minor shall be at least sixteen (16) years old with custodial parent or legal guardian consent prior to tattooing."
Police have said their investigation into the alleged child abuse is ongoing, with state troopers also referring the case to the Department for Community-Based Services after discovering 'deplorable' living conditions at her Monticello property.
Reactions to the arrest over a single tattooed dot on a child's arm was split straight down the middle, with some defending the mom by saying: "I feel like arresting the mom is significantly more traumatizing for the child than a tattooed dot."
However, others were not sure it mattered that the child supposedly wanted a 'party dot', saying: "'He wanted one' is a wild defense when the person in question still probably watches cartoons before bed."
William Morgan