HURRICANE, Utah, Oct. 29, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A man was arrested in Hurricane for allegedly abusing two young children by scalding them with hot water.
Austin Woolsey, 24, faces an initial charge of child abuse — inflicting serious physical injury intentionally, a second-degree felony.
A probable cause statement filed by an officer of the Hurricane Police Department says a 2-year-old boy had a large burn on his left side.
“The burn starts just under the arm and chest area, dropping down, transitioning across the side of (his) torso, ending just at the diaper line,” the officer’s statement says. “I could see the burn appears to look like some hot liquid was poured on the body. The upper burn on the chest terminates with a straight line on the chest area.”
The other child, a 3-year-old boy, had a burn mark on his forehead and neck.
“Both children were taken to the hospital with second-degree burns to their bodies,” the officer’s statement says. “The burns were on a large portion of the body,” she added.
The probable cause statement does not share information on the relationship between the man and boys.
“I interviewed Austin at his house and had him walk through the events of what happened when the children were burned,” the officer’s statement says. “I could see the story Austin told me and how he described the events did not correspond to the burns. I asked Austin if he poured hot water intentionally on the kids and he said yes.
“I asked Austin if he knew it was wrong to pour hot water on them and he
said yes. Austin said he learned his lesson not to do it again. I asked Austin how he learned his lesson and he replied he ‘felt kinda sad.'”
Woolsey was booked Wednesday into the Washington County jail. His bail was set at $10,000.
