By Kelli Gauthier
Staff Writer
Inconsistencies between witness accounts and a medical examiner's report led police on Friday to arrest a man in the death of a 4-year-old boy at East Lake Courts earlier this week, officials said.
Police charged Jamar McField, 21, of 2543 Sixth Avenue Court with criminal homicide and aggravated child abuse after authorities discovered his story did not match information on a medical examiner's report released Thursday, according to police department spokesman Sgt. Rick Mincy.
Mr. McField is the live-in boyfriend of Keanon Beamon's mother, Karen Railey, 30, and he initially told investigators he had put the child in the bathtub Wednesday because Keanon had wet his pants, said Lt. Tim Carroll, head of the police department's major crimes division. As the child was getting out of the tub, he slipped and fell, Mr. McField told police.
"He said he thought (Keanon) was OK, so he put him in bed, and when he went back to check on him, the child was unresponsive, and he started (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for a few minutes," Lt. Carroll said.
According to officials at the Hamilton County medical examiner's office, "multiple blunt-force injuries" caused the child's death, which was ruled a homicide.
"There was no obvious external injury or bruising," Lt. Carroll said, "so we had to wait for the medical examiner's report."
Mr. McField, who was baby-sitting Keanon prior to his death, told authorities he waited until Ms. Railey returned home before calling 911.
"That made it suspicious," Sgt. Mincy said.
Once emergency medical services employees arrived about 5 p.m. at the Fourth Avenue housing development, they continued CPR until arriving at T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital, where the boy died shortly after arrival, Lt. Carroll said.
Mr. McField is in custody at the Hamilton County Jail, Sgt. Mincy said.
E-mail Kelli Gauthier at kgauthier@timesfreepress.com
