ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police charged a man with two counts of attempted homicide Monday after they said he nearly beat his pregnant girlfriend and a child to death.
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Police said the woman called officers to her home just before 3:30 p.m. Monday to report an assault.
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She told responding officers that her boyfriend, identified as 36-year-old John Washington Jr., repeatedly punched her in the face with a closed fist and kicked her all over her body.
According to a police report, the officers noted the victim had “severe” injuries, including multiple contusions and a right eye that was completely swollen shut.
The woman told police she was able to sneak out and call for help after Washington fell asleep, and that he was still sleeping inside the apartment.
Police noted the victim was with a young child that also had severe contusions on its face and body. She told officers Washington was responsible for those injuries as well.
According to the report, officers spent 20 minutes calling into the apartment for Washington to come out with no response or sign of movement inside. They eventually made entry and found him asleep on the victim’s bed.
After the woman was admitted to a hospital, she gave investigators a more detailed account of what happened.
She said it all started around 4 a.m. when Washington arrived at her apartment. She told police he was angry because he found out she’d unknowingly been intimate with a relative of his before they started dating.
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That’s when the victim said Washington spent “several minutes” punching and kicking her before he went to the next room and picked up the child.
The victim told police Washington violently threw the child against the wall. When she tried to hide the child under a bed from Washington, the victim says he grabbed the child again, lifted the child above his head and threw the child to the ground twice.
The victim told police she begged Washington to stop but he responded by kicking the child while the child was on the ground and urinating on the child.
Police say the victim was convinced Washington was going to kill her and the child, and she only felt safe enough to sneak out of the apartment after he fell asleep.
The victim also offered police a possible motive for the attack, saying Washington recently lost a child himself and hadn’t slept in several days. During his attack on the child, the victim told police Washington said “no one cared when my daughter died, so now I don’t care.”
According to his arrest report, after he was taken into custody, Washington asked to be taken to the hospital because he felt dizzy. Washington claimed he had a seizure before he fell asleep and couldn’t remember anything about what happened.
Police noted Washington had swelling and bruising around his knuckle area consistent with repeatedly punching someone.
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Washington was cleared by a doctor and booked into the Orange County jail on two counts of attempted homicide and one count of battery of a child by throwing fluids. He’s being held on no bond.
The Florida Department of Children and Families is also being notified about the case.
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