3-year-old boy in critical condition; dad, stepmom arrested (Sacramento, California)

UNNAMED DAD (along with the stepmother) will "probably" be arrested for the beating of Dad's 3-year-old son, who is in critical condition.

There is not one word explaining the context here. Where is the little boy's mother? Is she alive? Dead? Did this father have custody? Visitation? What?

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/crime/archives/2010/03/boy-3-remains-c.html

March 24, 2010
Boy, 3, remains critical as police consider arrest of father, step-mother
By Bill Lindelof and Chelsea Phua

blindelof@sacbee.com

Sacramento police say they probably will arrest the father and step-mother of a 3-year-old child who is in critical condition after suffering an apparent beating.

Detectives say they believe that the child's injuries to his head and bruising to his body were caused by an assault by his 20-year-old father and 22-year-old step-mother on Tuesday.

The child is in critical condition at UC Davis Medical Center.

An investigation is ongoing so police are not releasing some details of the case.

However, police confirmed that at 6:43 p.m. Tuesday the Sacramento Fire Department responded to an Oak Park apartment complex in the 2700 block of 32nd Street where a child had been hurt.

Police homicide detectives and crime scene investigators were called to the scene because of the suspicious nature of the child's injuries.

The initial investigation by detectives revealed that earlier in the day the little boy was physically disciplined by the father and step-mother.

Later in the day, the father left the house. In the evening, police said, the step-mother heard a noise when the child went into the bathroom.

When the step-mother checked on the child, he was unconscious.

The boy was carried to a neighbor's apartment where 911 was called, prompting emergency response.

A Child Protective Services worker took a 5-month-old baby, believed to be the injured boy's brother, from the complex as a precaution.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/crime/archives/2010/03/boy-3-remains-c.html#ixzz0j6PFwWhq