Man arrested for burning, biting, and hitting 18-month-old child

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Justin Ivey Lamar Shavers, 19, was arrested yesterday and charged with five separate counts of aggravated child abuse and one count of child neglect with great bodily harm after allegedly burning an 18-month-old with a space heater, biting the child, stabbing the child’s feet with a push pin, hitting the child repeated with a hot cooking pan, and intentionally breaking the child’s arm.

The alleged abuse was discovered when Shavers brought the child to the emergency room; post Miranda, Shavers, who is not related to the child, initially said that he was watching the child while the child’s mother was away and that two masked men with guns had forced their way into his apartment on Wednesday night and again on Thursday morning. He said the masked men forced him at gunpoint to burn the child with a space heater and iron and also forced him to bite the child.

After Gainesville Police Department officers reminded Shavers that there is a camera pointing at his apartment door, Shavers reportedly admitted that there were no masked men and that he had intentionally injured the child because he was frustrated that the child was misbehaving and would not listen to him.

Shavers reportedly detailed five separate incidents in which he injured the child:

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  • He bit the child four times because the child punched him.
  • He pinned the child down on the bed and burned his chest with a space heater because the child peed on the bed.
  • He used a small thumb tack or push pin to stab the child’s feet because the child kicked him.
  • He took a hot pan he had been cooking with and hit the child repeatedly with it because the child was misbehaving and screaming.
  • He said the child fell off the bed and broke his arm; however, medical staff told law enforcement that in their opinion, the broken arm is an inflicted injury, not the result of a fall.

Shavers reportedly said that he did not seek medical attention for the child because he was afraid of getting in trouble, but he purchased bandages and cream to treat the child himself. He was charged with separate counts of aggravated child abuse for each incident detailed above and charged with child neglect for delaying medical treatment.

Bail for Shavers was set at $175,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

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