A 41-year-old California barber allegedly became upset after the 6-year-old child he was babysitting wet in his pants at the park, torturing and beating the boy to death with a “large piece of raw lumber.”
Ernest Lamar Love faces murder, torture, and child abuse charges in the death of Chance Crawford in Placentia, about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles. According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Chance’s mother dropped him off at Love’s Barbershop at about 6:30 p.m. on August 29 before working an overnight shift as a nurse’s assistant at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Around seven hours later, Love reportedly brought a battered and hardly breathing Chance to Children’s Hospital in Orange County.
“Doctors at CHOC discovered that much of Chance’s flesh was missing from his buttocks, leaving raw, gaping wounds, along with subdural hematoma, extreme brain swelling, and other injuries consistent with violent shaking,” according to a news release from the prosecution.
Chance was in serious condition in the hospital before passing away on Tuesday.
The alleged beating was captured on video surveillance. According to authorities, the footage showed Love heading into the barbershop with a “large piece of raw lumber” and a reluctant Chance following behind him.
“Love is accused of beating the first grader with the piece of lumber, then pouring hydrogen peroxide on the open wounds” before making the youngster do push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks, according to the news release.
He then drove Chance to the hospital’s emergency room rather than dialing 911 when the boy fell. If convicted, Love risks a jail sentence of 32 years to life. He is currently being held at the Orange County Jail without bond.
According to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, authorities will guarantee that Chance receives justice.
“While his new classmates were celebrating the end of the first week of first grade, Chance’s seat in his classroom was empty as he fought for his life in a hospital bed,” he told me. “Words do not exist to describe the absolute terror this little boy was forced to endure — all at the hands of someone who was supposed to be protecting him, not torturing him to death.”
Chance, according to two GoFundMe pages set up by friends and relatives, was a “sweet little boy, with a beautiful smile” who enjoyed watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Sesame Street.
“He was intelligent, inquisitive, and an excellent artist. Chance began creating illustrations of his favorite character, Mickey Mouse, that resembled scenes from a Disney film, according to the website. “He was a talented child with a whole life ahead of him.
We are crushed by the loss of our lovely, kind, gentle, bright, and sparkling star. This is excruciatingly painful, and our family will never recover from the loss. A precious baby was gone from us too soon.”
Love pled not guilty.