Toddler burned, cops in Warren investigate

STAFF REPORT

WARREN – City police have opened an investigation to determine how a 13-month-old girl was severely burned on a large portion of her body.

The toddler was transferred to the Akron Children’s Hospital Burn Unit after receiving initial treatment Tuesday at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital. She is in fair condition at the Akron hospital.

The girl’s mother, Tracey L. Cline, 28, of Buckeye Street, told police the baby’s father returned their daughter to her after a visitation about 5 p.m., and she noticed that the child was burned.

Cline took the girl to the hospital. The father told Cline the girl was accidentally burned when he was giving her a bath because the water was too hot. She was burned from her chest down. TMH’s emergency staff said it appeared the toddler was set on fire, however.

The child’s father was arrested Tuesday on an assault warrant in an unrelated case.

A woman who answered the phone in the girl’s room at the burn unit and identified herself as her grandmother said Cline wasn’t available, didn’t know where she was nor how to contact her.