Police: Colorado parolee fatally struck baby with chair
Police say a 24-year-old convicted child abuser confessed Thursday to fatally striking a baby with a chair after he became “frustrated” earlier this week in north Fort Collins.
The 11-month-old child suffered life-threatening injuries in the alleged attack and died Friday at a Denver-area hospital, a family friend confirmed. Court records show the suspect — who is not the child’s father — admitted to the attack, but only after he and the child’s mother concocted a story alleging that the girl was injured by accident.
Juan Canales-Hernandez told Fort Collins police that he was alone Wednesday afternoon with RaeLynn Martinez in the Coachlight Plaza Apartments in north Fort Collins. He said he had been “playing” with the child by tossing her into the air when she fell and hit her head, Fort Collins investigators wrote in the man’s arrest affidavit.
