APPLE VALLEY, Minn -- The young man who pushed an 8-year-old boy off the top of a water slide on Tuesday, sending him 32 feet to concrete below, bit a lifeguard at the same Apple Valley water park less than three weeks earlier but was not charged for that incident or told to stay away, according to police.

On Wednesday, Aug. 1, Roman Alexander Adams, 18, of Maple Grove was charged with third-degree assault in Dakota County District Court for allegedly picking up the boy and pushing him off the top of a waterslide at the Apple Valley Aquatic Center, which the city owns and runs.

He was arrested on a warrant Wednesday at his father’s home in Shorewood and released from Dakota County Jail after posting a $50,000 bond.

The boy remains hospitalized with a broken femur, several foot fractures and shattered shoulder bones, Apple Valley police Capt. Nick Francis said Thursday.

“I think this very well could have been a deadly incident,” he said. “Once we realized where this child fell from - the height which he fell from onto concrete - we were amazed that it only resulted in broken bones and other injuries. We were expecting much more internal injuries, head injuries and possible death. For whatever reason, this child landed in such a position where the injuries were quite minimal for the distance that he fell.”

Francis said Adams has a developmental disability but “knew what he did was wrong.”

“He knew what he did was going to hurt this little kid, and he made the decision to do it,” he said.

Adams bit the lifeguard on July 13, but police were not aware of it until after Tuesday’s incident, according to Francis. He said an injury report was made within the park system and the lifeguard was tested for communicable diseases.

Apple Valley City Administrator Tom Lawell said Thursday that the lifeguard was bitten while swimming underwater and “presented it as an employee injury, not as a personal assault.”

On Thursday, Park and Recreation Director Barry Bernstein directed questions about the bite to Francis.

Following the bite, the city could have pursued an assault charge against Adams and also given him a no-trespass order that would have kept him away from the pool, Francis said. He said he was not sure why park or other city staff failed to do either.

“My guess is that it’s just attributed to someone with a disability who did this, and it was the first time it happened with this person,” he said.

Police were called to the aquatic center at 14421 Johnny Cake Ridge Road about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a boy with a broken leg. Officers found the boy on a concrete sidewalk below the water slide, conscious and breathing.

In an interview with police, Adams said he was waiting in line to use the water slide and that it was taking “too long,” a criminal complaint reads. He admitted that he picked up the boy from the platform at the top of the water slide, pushed him over the railing and saw him fall, charges said.

Witnesses told police there was no interaction between Adams and the boy before the incident, Francis said. They did not know each other.

At the time of the incident, a personal care assistant was with Adams but in another part of the park, Francis said.

The city shut down the park after the incident and reopened it Wednesday.

The boy’s identity is being withheld by police at the request of the family, Francis said. The boy had two surgeries Wednesday and is scheduled for at least two more.

“The family is pretty sheltered down about this,” Francis said. “They’re just focused on trying to get him through the surgeries and get him the care he needs.”

Under conditions of his release set by a Dakota County judge, Adams is not allowed at the water park or to have contact with minors.