https://lawandcrime.com/child-abuse...-2-year-old-to-unconsciousness-filming-abuse/
A judge in Nebraska sentenced a man to serve a maximum of 52 years in prison after he filmed himself using a scarf to hang his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter by the neck until she lost consciousness multiple times.
Douglas County District Judge
Duane Dougherty on Tuesday sentenced
David John Coleman, 38, to serve between 42 and 52 years behind bars after the convicted sex offender and nine-time felon pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. Coleman had initially been charged with first-degree attempted murder before agreeing to a plea deal with prosecutors that included dropping the murder charge.
The
World-Herald previously reported that Coleman’s girlfriend was scrolling through Coleman’s phone on Dec. 17 when she came to a video that had been filmed three days earlier. She told police that she immediately recognized the setting of the video as her personal storage unit located at 129th Street and West Maple Road. Nothing could prepare her for the horrific scene that would unfold when she played the video.
Per a sworn affidavit from Omaha Police Det.
Alexis Boults that was obtained by the
World-Herald, the footage showed Coleman “hanging her two year old daughter with a pink scarf, by her neck, from a shelving unit, causing her to become strangled” and “losing the ability to breathe and losing consciousness.”
“The suspect could [then] be seen grabbing [the child] roughly by the chest and lifting her with the ligature still tied to her neck to release pressure just enough to allow her to breathe, gasp, cry and gurgle, before dropping her in a hanging position, again, only to restart the previous cycle.”
The toddler’s mother called the police who conducted a search of Coleman’s phone and found another video, filmed just 30 minutes prior to the first, showing Coleman “wrapping the same pink scarf around the victim’s neck multiple times, while she was seated in the car seat.”
“The victim can be seen on video turning red and blue in the face,” the affidavit said. “The victim appeared to try crying but was unable to because the ligature was pulled so tightly by the suspect to stop her from breathing, speaking or crying.”