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Infant injured in altercation
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An infant was transported to an area hospital after a fight between the child’s babysitter and her boyfriend ended with the child being injured.

According to reports from the Covington Police Department, officers were called to a home on Greenway Cove about a baby whose "face is split open." When they arrived around 11:22 p.m. there were several people standing outside the home, and when officers exited their patrol vehicles, a woman who identified herself as the baby’s grandmother reportedly approached them with the baby in her arms.

The child was covered by a blanket and when officers asked to see the baby they immediately noticed she had a laceration on her face near the cheek. The child’s mother stepped out of the house and told officers she was unsure of what happened since the child was left in the care of a babysitter and she was not home when it happened. The mother allegedly told them she was at the store when she received a call to come home.

Officers then spoke to the woman, who had been watching both the injured child and her own. She reportedly told officers that the baby had gotten into a tube of diaper rash cream and got it around her mouth. According to reports, the woman told officers that "Dee Dee," later identified as Dequintis Russell, saw this and began to verbally abuse her.

The woman allegedly told officers that she was sitting down at the time of the verbal altercation and when she attempted to stand up, Russell pushed her back down, causing her to fall on top of the baby, causing the laceration. Russell then reportedly started beating her in the head once she was on the ground, fleeing the scene prior to officers arriving.

The infant was transported to Children’s Health Care of Atlanta at Elgleston where she received seven stitches on her cheek and suffered from bruising and swelling in the general area. Warrants were obtained for Russell on charges of battery and cruelty to children.