3-Year-Old Told Neighbors ‘Mommy Tried to Cut My Hair’ After Being Attacked with Machete

Stock photo of a police car. (Shutterstock)

A mother in Philadelphia was arrested after she allegedly attacked her 3-year-old daughter with a machete, fracturing her skull.

On the night of Sunday, Aug. 11, the Philadelphia Police Department sent officers to a home on Mascher Street after neighbors apparently heard the incident, reported 6ABC.

A family friend grabbed the injured toddler and took her out of the home. A neighbor, who is a nurse, helped stabilize the girl before officials arrived on the scene, authorities said.

Officials said she had injuries to her head, knee, and shoulder. The unnamed child also had two skull fractures.

“She sustained some serious trauma sadly at the hands of her mother, the very individual that’s supposed to be here to protect her,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross told the station.

Neighbors said the cut to the child’s head was quite deep.

A neighbor explained that the nurse neighbor “tried to stabilize the baby until two cops rushed her, they wouldn’t even wait for the ambulance it was so bad. They took her in their police car.”

Police said that the 32-year-old mother, who was not named in the report, appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

And witnesses said the mother wasn’t wearing any clothes and appeared incoherent, 6ABC reported.

“She came out with her hands all cut up, asking if she could get a pair of shoes,” a neighbor told NBC Philadelphia. “She was very incoherent. She didn’t know what was going on.”

The woman was arrested, and the girl was taken to Einstein Medical Center in critical but stable condition, according to the NBC report.

“All the girl kept saying was ‘My mommy tried to cut my hair,’ that’s what the little girl was saying. I don’t think she thinks her mother would hurt her. They’re very close and it’s sad,” a neighbor, named Pauline, told the station.

Neighbors said that in recent days, police officers were sent to the home after another member of the family assaulted someone. Police retrieved machetes from the home at that time, according to the ABC affiliate report.

Police said that the woman could face aggravated assault and additional charges.

Police didn’t identify a motive in the attack. Officials also said the case is an ongoing investigation, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Other details about the case are not clear.

Facts About Crime in the US

Violent crime in the United States has fallen sharply over the past 25 years, according to both the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).

The rate of violent crimes fell by 49 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the FBI’s UCR, which only reflects crimes reported to the police.

The violent crime rate dropped by 74 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the BJS’s NCVS, which takes into account both crimes that have been reported to the police and those that have not.

From 1993 to 2017, the rate of violent victimization declined 74 percent, from 79.8 to 20.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older,” the U.S. Department of Justice stated.

Both studies are based on data collected up to and including 2017, the most recent year for which complete figures are available.

The FBI recently released preliminary data for 2018. According to the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January to June 2018, violent crime rates in the United States dropped by 4.3 percent compared to the same six-month period in 2017.