Dragged child case going to grand jury
A 7-year-old child who was allegedly dragged down a hallway by her mother had been previously removed from the residence by social workers, according to police.
During a preliminary hearing Wednesday for John Goodwin, Winchester Police Detective Matthew Reed said the child had just been back in the home for about two months when the incident occurred April 17.
The child’s mother Kaitlen Combs and her boyfriend John Goodwin are both charged with first-degree criminal abuse.
During Goodwin’s preliminary hearing Wednesday in Clark District Court, Reed said he interviewed Combs at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, where the child was treated. Reed said Combs told him there was an argument involving the child that morning about what she would wear to school. At one point, Combs admitted to dragging the child down the hallway and over a metal strip to the child’s bedroom.
He said Goodwin came out of the bedroom to find out what was happening before Combs and the child left for school.
Reed said Combs told him she got worried about the child’s wounds while on the way to school, and they returned home where Goodwin said he helped bandage the child.
Prosecutors said Goodwin did nothing to prevent or report the incident.
“He said he did not intervene,” Reed said.
Combs also admitted to threatening the child that if she reported the incident, she would go back to foster care.
Reed said he was notified of the incident April 19. The child was kept at least one night in the hospital, he said.
Following the hearing, Clark District Judge Cole Adams Maier found probable cause for the charge and sent the case to the grand jury.
Combs’ preliminary hearing was continued to May 15.