MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (WFLA) – A Florida man is behind bars after he allegedly beat a 3-year-old girl with a brick inside of a recycling bin and left her to die, The Miami Herald reported.
Tristin Tavares Bernard, 18, was arrested and charged early Friday morning with attempted second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm and torture, and aggravated battery.
Police were called to a neighborhood in Miami Gardens at about 6 p.m. Thursday after a neighbor reported seeing Bernard beating the girl with a brick inside of a recycling bin.
Family members say Bernard is a relative who is mentally unstable.
The girl was being watched by her grandmother who told police she was babysitting the child when she lost track of her.
Sotomayor, who lives a block over, said he heard cries and saw Bernard hitting the girl in the head with the brick, then take off back to his mother’s home, leaving the girl behind.
“She was in the bin and she was bleeding on the side of her head,” Jose Sotomayor, the witness, told CBS4. “Thank God I was able to save her life.”
The girl was rushed to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood where she underwent surgery. She’s listed in critical condition.
Bernard was arrested and booked into jail, where he’s being held on a total bond of $42,500 on the three charges.
