Burnsville Woman Charged with Breaking Child's Wrist

A Burnsville woman has been charged with malicious punishment of a child after authorities say she pushed a 6-year-old girl in her care to the floor, fracturing the child’s wrist.

Rebecca Elaine Deas, 32, is charged with one gross misdemeanor count of malicious punishment of a child, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, the child’s mother called Burnsville police on Aug. 11 about an “altercation with a caregiver.”

The girl’s mother told police that Deas got upset and shoved the girl, who fell and broke her wrist.

Police subsequently interviewed Deas, who admitted that she was watching the child that day, but denied touching her and said she had no idea how she had been injured, the complaint says.

An investigator then spoke to the child, who said Deas got angry with her, shook a toy in her face, grabbed her by the shoulders, shook her and pushed her to the floor.

The child said she stepped backward, tripped and fell on her wrist. She said she cried, but didn’t tell Deas that her wrist hurt “because she was afraid of what Deas might do,” according to the complaint.

The child’s mother found about the injury when she picked up her daughter that evening. She said she told the girl to fasten her seat belt, but she said she couldn’t because it was too painful.

The child was taken to the hospital, where x-rays determined that her wrist was fractured.

Deas is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charge Dec. 5 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.