YORK COUNTY — Police have charged a 32-year-old Hanover man with aggravated assault of a person less than 13 years of age and endangering the welfare of a child after they say he injured a two-year-old child he was caring for last week.
Matthew Duane Howard, of the first block of Elm Avenue, is accused of injuring the boy so severely he had to be taken to a hospital for treatment on August 20, according to Hanover Borough Police.
Howard was watching the child at about 7:15 p.m. on the day of the alleged assault, police say. The child’s mother was gone for about an hour, and when she returned, Howard was allegedly holding the boy by the back of his shirt, telling him to wake up, police say. The child was not alert, his arms were bent and rigid, and his fists were clenched, according to police.
The child’s mother took the boy to Hanover Hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a broken right clavicle, a fracture to the right side of his skull, bruises to his head, and bleeding on his brain, police say in the criminal complaint. The boy also had visible bruising all over his body, according to police.
In an interview with police the next day, Howard allegedly admitted to injuring the boy, saying he “lost it,” according to police. He told police he struck the boy in the face, pulled him by the arm, and threw him into a clothes hamper, police allege.
