Father charged with child abuse, domestic assault after infant thrown on floor, mother punched

Marico Owens

Marico Owens

A Memphis father has been charged after a mother said he threw their 1-year-old child on the ground after an argument.

According to the Memphis Police Department, the incident occurred early Thanksgiving morning around 4 a.m.

Police said the family was riding in a car when the mother and father began arguing. While they were arguing, the suspect Marico Owens, 42, punched the mother in her bottom lip, according to MPD.

That's when police said the mother grabbed their 1-year-old son and ran into their Frayser home. Police said Owens tried to enter the home and threatened to run his car into the house.

Someone who also lives inside the home let Owens inside the house, and the mother and father started arguing again.

Police said Owens then picked up the baby by the back of his neck and threw him on the floor. He then picked the baby up, put him back on the bed, then knocked him back onto the floor from the bed, according to police.

The mother picked her child up from the floor and ran out of the house. Both victims were taken to another home about one mile away.

Paramedics said the mother and child appeared to be injured, but they refused to be transported.

When officers were on the scene at the first home, Owens returned to the house and asked police if police were looking for him.

Owens was taken to Regional One because he claims he was tasreed by someone in the house.

Officers have charged Owens with domestic assault and child abuse.

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