NEWARK – Authorities say a five-year-old boy hospitalized with severe injuries he suffered while wrestling with his foster father has died and the man has been charged with child endangering.
The Licking County Prosecutor’s Office says Nathaniel Gard was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital June 2 with injuries that included severe head trauma and bruises and died four days later.
Police have said Kenneth S. Schulz told them he using various wrestling moves, like the “power bomb” and the “body slam,” on the boy when he became unresponsive.
Assistant Prosecutor Paula Sawyers said Schulz, 29, was charged June 4 with child endangering and could face additional charges.
Schulz is in jail with bond set at $500,000. A message seeking comment was left at his attorney’s office on Monday.
Nathaniel and his six-year-old brother lived with William and Kenneth Schulz in their Jefferson Road home but the older brother has been removed and placed with Licking County Children Services, police spokesman Sgt. Doug Wells said.
Wells says Kenneth Schulz confessed to picking the child up over his head and “body slamming”
him onto a sofa, which caused the boy’s head to strike the back of the sofa and the boy to become unresponsive.
Kenneth was interviewed twice and Wells says he admitted to being “too rough” with Nathaniel and also acknowledged that he did not tell medical personnel exactly what happened.
An autopsy was performed by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office but Wells says it may take weeks to determine the exact cause of death.