A 19-year-old Burlington Flats man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly scalding his toddler daughter's face with hot tap water.
Lawrence Allen Painter Jr. was charged late Tuesday night with second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Painter was watching his 16-month-old daughter Tuesday morning while her mother was away, according to Otsego County sheriff's deputies in a media release. He became upset with the girl and poured hot tap water onto her face, causing second-degree burns, according to the release.
"It was not life-threatening," Sheriff Richard Devlin said Wednesday.
The girl fell down after she was burned, cutting herself above her eye. Painter and the girl's mother, who also lived at the home, took the toddler to Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown on Tuesday afternoon, deputies said.
Hospital officials reported the alleged incident through an Otsego County Child Protective Services hotline.
"(Hospital officials) weren't comfortable with the explanation that they heard," Devlin said. "They felt it was suspicious."
Devlin said he did not know precisely what the couple had told the hospital about how their child became injured.
The girl was still in the hospital Wednesday recovering from second-degree burns. Her condition was unavailable from the hospital because her name was not released by deputies.
Devlin said the mother's name also would not be immediately released, but he said she has a different last name than Painter.
Painter was interviewed at the Otsego County Sheriff's Office in Middlefield and arrested at 11:25 p.m.
He was arraigned early Wednesday morning in Otsego Town Court and sent to Otsego County Correctional Facility on $25,000 bail to await further proceedings Wednesday in the same court.
The mother was not charged.
