Houston father accused of biting 1-year-old son

Houston father accused of biting 1-year-old son
By Robert Stanton
Updated 10:46 p.m., Monday, February 6, 2012



Darrell Prince-Tico Mitchell, 19, of Houston, is charged with felony injury to a child. Photo: HPD / HC


A Houston dad has been accused of growling at and biting his 1-year-old son in the chest when confronted by police at his apartment.

Darrell Prince-Tico Mitchell, 19, has been charged with felony injury to a child, court records show. He is being held at the Harris County Jail under $5,000 bail.

Mitchell's neighbor, fearing he would hurt his son, called police on Jan. 28, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

A police officer who arrived at Mitchell's apartment in the 8900 block of South Gessner "could hear (Mitchell) growling and the baby screaming inside the apartment," the complaint states.

The officer entered the open front door and found Mitchell squeezing his son and moving the baby in and out of the shower while the water was running, according to the complaint.

The officer talked to Mitchell, trying to get him to stop squeezing the child. Mitchell did not release his grip on the boy, so the officer forcefully removed the baby from Mitchell's arms.

That's when the child was injured, according to investigators.

"When he was attempting to remove the baby from defendant's possession, the defendant bit the baby on the baby's chest," the criminal complaint states.

The officer eventually got the crying baby away from Mitchell. The infant was flush, had scratches on his body and a bite mark on his chest, according to the complaint.

The child's grandmother arrived at the apartment to take custody of the boy.

Mitchell was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he remained until he was transferred to the county jail on Feb. 2.

"He was believed to have been on an unknown substance," HPD spokeswoman Jodi Silva said.