Court documents reveal that the mother of a one-year-old and her boyfriend intentionally caused injuries that lead to the child’s death.
Madison Rodriguez, 18, and Charles Dillon Flournoy, 21, were booked into Lubbock County Jail on Wednesday.
Police say Rodriguez “advised that she forcefully threw him down onto the floor causing him to strike his head…”
Flournoy told police that he dropped the baby, “striking his head on the toilet.”
According to the warrant, “Madison advised that she did not seek medical attention because ‘she was not sure if the insurance had started and they did not want a big medical bill'”
KidsHealth.org says one out of every four children who experiences abusive head trauma dies.
According to Carla Olson, Executive Director of The Parenting Cottage, abusive head trauma can be caused by direct blows to the head, dropping, throwing, or shaking a child.
She says parenting is “the most important job you take, and the one you get the least amount of training for.”
She says parent education is important not only for parents, but for the well-being of their children.
“I think we as a community have to be more proactive to make sure that we take the stigma away from parent education,” says Olson. “We say to everybody ‘It’s ok to get some parent education before the baby is born, after the baby is born, whatever.'”
“A child is the most innocent thing out there, this is preventable,” says Olson.