Warren boy, 3, dies; mother's boyfriend in custody

WARREN

A boy being watched by is mother’s boyfriend died today in a Cleveland hospital after suffering “severe head trauma,” Warren police said late this afternoon.

Arthur A. Harper, 43, who lived with the boy and his mother, was charged this morning with felony child endangering. Harper will be arraigned on the charge today in Warren Municipal Court.

But Nick Carney, a Warren detective, said Harper could face additional charges after an autopsy is performed.

Harper called 911 at 6:38 p.m. Saturday asking for help at his home in the 500 block of High Street Northeast, saying that the boy, Russell Cotrall, was unresponsive and possibly not breathing.

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

The boy’s mother was not home at the time of the incident. Harper, who had a Mansfield address in the police report, was alone with the boy at the time, Carney said.