A Rockaway Park mom was so furious that her 3-year-old had soiled himself that she held him in scalding water for several minutes, burning the child so badly his skin began falling off his body, Queens DA Richard Brown alleges. Regina Cooper, 30, "got upset" when she came home yesterday and was told that her son, Barkim Owens, had soiled his pull-ups. According to the DA, she "cursed at her son, stripped him of his clothing and placed him in the bathtub without testing the temperature of the water. She allegedly held him submerged in the water for several minutes while the child screamed, cried and pleaded with his mother to take him out."
After Cooper finally took her son out of the water, she realized how badly he was burned, and took him to Nassau County Medical Center, where he was admitted with second-degree burns on his legs, buttocks and genitals. "The young child will be permanently scarred—both physically and emotionally—by the experience and the fact that it is his own mother charged with seriously harming him," said Brown. Read the DA's press release here [pdf] if you want to feel bad about humanity and criticizing your mother. Cooper is charged with second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child; if convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
