South Pittsburg Police Department Chief Bobby SimpsonAuthorities investigating the Friday death of a South Pittsburg, Tenn., toddler had few details to release Tuesday.
The state medical examiner’s office will classify the death of 2-year-old Zayne “Nugget” Harper as a homicide, South Pittsburg Police Chief Bobby Simpson said Tuesday. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is the lead investigating agency on the incident, the chief said.
Zayne was injured while his mother’s 17-year-old boyfriend was watching him, the chief said. The toddler was the son of South Pittsburg resident Essence Robinson and Eddie Harper, who lives just across the state line in Jackson County, Ala., he said.
Simpson said Zayne died Friday at a Chattanooga hospital where he was being treated for massive internal injuries he sustained in an incident that is still murky, with few details to describe what happened to the toddler.
“What we know is that the child suffered massive internal injuries and that the child died of those injuries,” Simpson said.