BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Baton Rouge police say a 4-year-old girl is dead after her grandmother allegedly forced her to drink a bottle of whiskey while her mother watched.
Police spokesperson Sgt. L’Jean McKneely told news outlets the little girl’s grandmother, 53-year-old Roxanne Record, and mother, 29-year-old Kadjah Record, were arrested Friday on a charge of first-degree murder.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office says an autopsy showed a cause of death was acute alcohol poisoning.
Authorities say the little girl had a blood-alcohol level of .680%, more than eight times the .08% driving limit for an adult.
TV station WAFB obtained an arrest warrant in the case, which said the child's grandmother was angry because the 4-year-old may have taken drinks from the bottle. As an apparent form of punishment, police said the grandmother forced the toddler to drink the rest of the liquor in the bottle.
The child's grandmother reportedly said "she messed up" and “wanted to take full responsibility” for the girl's death.