3-year-old Warren boy dies in Cleveland hospital of severe head trauma

WARREN

A 3-year-old boy being watched by his mother’s boyfriend died Wednesday in a Cleveland hospital after suffering “severe head trauma,” Warren police said Wednesday.

Arthur A. Harper, 43, who lived with the boy and his mother, is charged with felony child endangering and was placed in the Trumbull County jail. He will be arraigned on the charge Thursday in Warren Municipal Court.

But Nick Carney, a Warren detective, said Harper could face additional charges after an autopsy is performed on the boy, Russell Cotrall.

The Vindicator obtained a copy of the 911 call Harper made at 6:38 p.m. Saturday. In it, he tells the dispatcher the boy was “up in his bedroom lying down and I heard a thump, and he’s unresponsive to me.”

When the dispatcher asked if the boy was breathing, Harper said, “As far as I know.”

An ambulance took Russell to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital, and he was transferred to Rainbow Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. A doctor there called Warren police Sunday and said Russell “is not going to make it, and it looks like it will be a homicide,” according to Warren police.

Read more about the situation in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.