YOUNGSTOWN Girl's feet scalded; parents suspected

The father told police that he put butter on the little girl's feet and it melted.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Parents of a 2-year-old Hudson Avenue girl are facing charges of child endangering after their daughter was taken to Akron Children's Hospital burn unit with her feet scalded by bath water.
Lorenzo Maxey, 30, of Stansbury Drive told police he went upstairs to use the bathroom about 11 p.m. Sunday and yelled when he saw China McCall, his 2-year-old daughter, climbing up the tub as her 5-year-old sister stood nearby. China fell into the tub feet first and began to scream, he told police.
Maxey said he carried the child to a master bedroom, where her mother, Christina McCall, 28, was doing an 8-year-old daughter's hair at their Hudson Avenue home. Maxey said McCall told him that she'd told a 7-year-old son to run the bath water, reports show.
Maxey and McCall spent the night in the Mahoning County jail pending arraignment today in municipal court.
The 2-year-old girl's condition was not immediately available.
McCall, who wrote out a statement for police, said her 7-year-old son ran the bath water and Maxey put China in the tub and took her out when she began to cry. McCall said Maxey then checked the water and realized it was too hot.
Maxey said the skin was peeling off China's feet and he applied butter to comfort her burns as she laid on a bed crying. The butter melted but calmed the child, he told police.
McCall called 911, and an ambulance took China to St. Elizabeth Health Center. She was later transferred to Akron.
Second-degree burns
Reports show the child suffered second-degree burns to her feet and ankles.
Maxey said the normal routine was for the 8-year-old girl to give the younger children a bath.
Police said the bath tub is an old-style model, about 2 feet high. The officers tested the water from the faucet and found it unbearable for human skin. They said the temperature control on the water tank was turned to the highest degree.
Mahoning County Children's Services placed the remaining children, 8, 7 and 5, with an aunt on Ravenwood Avenue.
meade@vindy.com