Mother 'allowed three teens to hang her 18-month-old son upside down and use him as human punching bag'



Charged: Shakera Wright, 18, shown here in a police mug shot, is accused of allowing her 18-month-old son to be used as a human punching bag

A mother has been charged with allowing her 18-month-old son to be hung upside down and used as a human punching bag by three teenagers.

Toddler Louis Wright is fighting for his life after suffering multiple injuries, including lacerations on his spleen, liver and pancreas.

He also suffered five fractured ribs and was covered in bruises from head to toe from the severe beating at a flat in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Police said a belt had been tied around the boy's ankles and he had strapped from a coat rail inside a closet like a boxer's punch bag.

Three teens took it in turn to pummel the boy until the beating was stopped by his 18-year-old mother Shakera Wright.

She rushed her son to hospital after his eyes rolled back into his head and he became unresponsive.

Doctors told police the baby had swelling to his face, five fractured ribs, bruises on his back and his left and right torso, as well as lacerations to his spleen, liver and pancreas.



Tragic: Shakera Wright and her son live in North Charleston in South Carolina

They also discovered an old skull fracture that had healed.



Wright claimed that the teens, aged 14,15 and 16 had been play wrestling with her son and had stepped in to save her son when it became too rough.

But doctors treating the boy said his injuries were consistent with being repeatedly punched.

According to arrest warrants, the 16-year-old named as Tyrek Varnes admitted that he repeatedly hit Louis while wrestling with him.

He also said he punched him with a closed fist, hung him upside-down in a closet by strapping a belt around his ankles, dropped him on the ground and lifted the boy above his head and slammed him onto a bed.

Varnes has been charged with greater bodily injury to a child. The other teens, whose names were not released, are also in the custody.



The boy's mother is being held in jail on charges of allowing greater bodily injury to a child.