A man is behind bars after a five-year-old child was taken to the hospital spitting up blood.
Officials say Darius Lewis was arrested Wednesday after the child was brought to a local hospital with "multiple bruises and marks on his back, legs, buttocks, eye, abdomen, arms, and chest" last October.
Arrest records show that when asked how he got the bruises, the five-year-old told the hospital staff that Lewis whipped him with a belt and punched him in the stomach multiple times.
Police say the victim's injuries were deemed life-threatening, having suffered a laceration on his liver and bruising on his kidney.
The victim's mother says she was not at home at the time of the alleged incident and that the suspect is not the child's biological father.
Lewis was booked and charged with one count of cruelty to juveniles.
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