Kentucky boy, 2, thrown head over feet onto couch. Recovered ‘play’ video leads to charges.

An Oldham County man was arrested Friday after cellphone video showed he broke the leg of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, police said.

The boy was taken to Norton Brownsboro Hospital by his mother Feb. 20 after he complained of leg pain, according to an arrest citation. A spiral fracture of his left femur required surgery to repair, court records show. The mother reported that the boy was injured falling out of his crib.

Following an investigation, detectives learned through recovered cellphone video that the mother’s boyfriend, 29-year-old Curt Marshall, was responsible for the boy’s injury, according to police. The video had been deleted from the phone. Marshall denied that he hurt the boy.

Marshall is accused of grabbing the boy “around his ankles and swinging him, head over feet, throwing him onto the couch,” according to his complaint warrant. Marshall swung the boy about four times until he began to cry, police alleged.

Initially, it appeared that Marshall was playing with the child, police said after talking to the mother.

The boy attempted to walk but started to shake and struggled to support his weight, according to the warrant. The mother said she was unable to take her son to the hospital because she did not have a ride, according to police. He was taken to the hospital the next day.

After admitting how the boy was injured, the mother said Marshall previously hurt her son by handing him a lit cigarette, causing the boy to burn his lip when he tried to put the cigarette in his mouth, police say. Marshall also smacked the child on his legs, causing bruising, police say.

Marshall said he was not at the home when the toddler’s leg was fractured, despite the video evidence, according to police.

He was charged with second-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 or under, first-degree wanton endangerment and second-degree assault. He was placed in the Oldham County Detention Center.

This story was originally published March 5, 2019 at 9:21 AM.