Mom Reportedly Hits Daughter With Plate, Causing Serious Injuries

A 17-year-old West Des Moines girl has been advised to stay with friends as authorities investigate her mother on a child endangerment charge after 23 stitches were required to close injuries to the girl’s face.

West Des Moines Police Officer Stephen Becker was dispatched to Mercy West Lakes Hospital about midnight April 11 after authorities there contacted Iowa Department of Human Services social workers about the girl’s injuries, which reportedly occurred after her mother threw a plate of food that struck her above one eye.

The plate shattered on impact, causing a 5 1/2-inch long gash on the side of her face and a smaller cut above her eye, according to the report.

The DHS caseworker told police that when the girl was 11, she had been removed from the home because her mother had drug and alcohol problems, according to the report. The woman entered a rehabilitation program and her daughter was allowed to return to the home.

The girl told police that “things had been going very well” until December, when she and her mother argued and her mother reportedly pulled out her hair extensions and grabbed a pair of scissors and tried to stab her daughter, the report said.

The victim said that she did not report the incident and still did not want to press charges against her mom.

The DHS caseworker reportedly advised the girl to stay with friends until she turns 18.

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