11-year-old Kentucky boy escaped home, had bruises, marks across body. Two arrested.

A woman and her fiancee were arrested after an 11-year-old boy was found with bruises and marks across his whole body, according to police.

The victim escaped his bedroom window by crawling out and ran up to a vehicle in the area of South Village Apartments in Richmond, police stated. He told the driver he needed help because he had been beaten, according to an arrest citation. The woman took the boy to the police station, where police found the bruising, according to court records.

The boy had bruising to both of his arms and biceps, across his stomach, thighs and chest, scratch marks under his right arm on his rib cage, and a foot-long welt on his back in the shape of a large loop, police stated. He also had swelling on his face and scratched and cut hands, according to police.

While speaking with police, the boy stated Joseph Woldeselassie, “struck him several times with a belt, pinched him in several locations, drug him through the residence by his arms and armpit area, as well as his ear,” according to an arrest citation.

Ericka Perkins, Woldeselassie’s fiancee, said the boy was being combative and she admitted to dragging the boy and said the bruises were also from her, her arrest citation states. Woldeselassie also admitted to dragging the boy, according to his arrest citation.

Neither Perkins or Woldeselassie admitted to striking the boy, their arrest citations state. Perkins gave the victim an ice pack when she noticed the marks on his back, she told police.

It’s not clear what the relation of Perkins and Woldeselassie is to the boy.

Perkins, 24, and Woldeselassie, 23, were both arrested and charged with criminal abuse of a child 12 or under. They have been placed in the Madison County Detention Center.

This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 10:45 AM.