Inset: Jeroen Jarrell Coombs (Marion County Sheriff's Office). Background: Trailer near Ocala, Florida, where Coombs allegedly killed his girlfriend's toddler daughter (WFTV).
A Florida man watching his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter allegedly tied her up so she wouldn't remove her diaper before he punched her and dropped the girl on the floor, leading to her death.
Jeroen Jarrell Coombs, 32, stands accused of aggravated child abuse in the death of Paisley Brown near Ocala, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Deputies responded around noon Thursday to a home in the 16500 block of NE 44th Avenue for an unresponsive child. Paramedics arrived and rushed Paisley to the hospital where she died.
Deputies on scene learned that Coombs was "the one who harmed Paisley" and took him into custody, the press release stated. According to cops, Coombs called Paisley's mother — not 911 — just before 11 a.m. saying that the girl was unresponsive. No one called 911 for another 40 minutes, deputies say.
Another child at the home allegedly told deputies Coombs assaulted the child on Thursday and on previous occasions. Coombs was the only adult at the home when the abuse in question occurred, cops said. Paisley suffered bruises and ligature marks on her wrists and feet, suggesting she had been tied up.
Coombs initially claimed Paisley woke up "groggy."
"However, when he was confronted about the bruising and ligature marks on the victim, Coombs admitted to causing the injuries that led to her death," deputies wrote. "He advised that he had bound her hands with a robe tie and her legs with painter's tape to prevent her from reaching into her diaper the night before."
The defendant allegedly said he picked up Paisley while she was still bound and dropped her on the floor, causing her to begin gasping for air. He also admitted to punching and hitting the girl before realizing he "took it too far," per cops. Coombs said he never called 911 because he was "scared."
Authorities are considering additional charges and are awaiting the results of an autopsy that will determine the cause and manner of death.
Paisley's great-aunt Tabitha Harless told local NBC affiliate WESH that she owns the trailer where the alleged crimes took place. She arrived on scene in the aftermath.
Coombs was "standing there with his arms folded up doing absolutely nothing," Harless said.
"Nobody seemed to be in a, really, panic. I performed CPR, but in the meantime, I was looking at her — why is she wet? Where did these bruises come from?" she said.
One of Paisley's older siblings told her what happened.
"He said, 'Aunt Tabby, he killed her. He punched her in the chest and he punched her in the wall,'" she told the TV station.
Harless feels that Paisley and her siblings "slipped through the cracks" of the state's child welfare system as they have been mistreated.
"These children were let down," she said, per WESH. "Not only by their parents but by society, and it shouldn't be that way. That's why I am standing up today for Paisley and them children."
Coombs is at the Marion County Jail without bond.
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