BURLISON, Tenn. — A Tipton County man is facing aggravated child abuse and domestic assault charges after authorities say he dragged a newborn over broken glass and hit the baby’s mother during an argument at their Burlison home Saturday morning.
The Tipton County Sheriff’s Office said 26-year-old Randle Maddox threw a glass cup at his girlfriend through an “un-paned” window after she asked him to make a bottle for their five-week-old daughter when she woke up crying around 4 a.m.
The cup broke, and Maddox is accused of dragging the infant over the pieces of broken glass before jumping on the bed.
“Had the child’s head kind of in between his feet and just started jumping up on the bed, bouncing the baby up and down,” said Deputy Chief Shannon Beasley with the sheriff’s office.
Maddox was arrested the next day after his daughter showed up at the hospital with cuts on her back.
But Maddox’s family isn’t buying the allegations.
“He loved the kid. That baby was his life,” said Maddox’s grandmother, Patricia Maddox.
“No way would he do that to my grandbaby. No way,” she said.
Maddox’s father said his son and the child’s mother were fighting Saturday, but said it was the child’s mother that attacked Maddox.
“He was started trying to come outside to get away from her. She followed him outside. She was doing the same thing, beating on him, banging his head and everything else,” said Robert Maddox.
In addition to dragging his daughter through glass, Maddox is also accused of hitting his girlfriend in the face and telling her, “I wish I had a gun so I could kill you and then myself so [the baby] would have no one.”
Maddox’s family contends the child’s mother concocted the whole story in an effort to have Maddox arrested.
“That woman needs so much help. She’s bipolar, she needs medicine,” said Maddox’s mother, Monica Maddox.
Maddox is behind bars on a $5,000 bond.
Family members said they haven’t spoken to him or seen his daughter since his arrest because they say the mother disappeared with her.
Deputies confirm the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is now investigating.