Trucker arrested in death of 4-year-old boy in Indiana, authorities say

A trucker has been arrested in connection to the death of a 4-year-old boy after the youngster was severely injured in his truck, police said.

The LaGrange County Prosecutor’s Office in Indiana filed preliminary charges against Dylan Diericx, alleging one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, according to CBS 15.

On Aug. 19, Shipshewana Police in Indaina were called to the 340 block of Van Buren St. for a boy unresponsive and in critical condition, CBS 15 reported.

The boy was taken by helicopter to a Fort Wayne hospital, where he later died, according to CBS 15.

According to the probable cause affidavit obtained by CBS 15, the boy was the son of Diericx’s girlfriend, and Diericx said they were engaged in “horse-play” in the cab of a semi-truck, when the child was injured.

Diericx told investigators that he had tossed the boy on the bunk of the sleeper of his semi, and he hit his head on a “fixed object,” according to the affidavit. He said the boy then began convulsing and went unconscious, CBS 15 reported.

According to the affidavit, the boy’s injuries were not consistent with Diericx’s explanation.

The child suffered “fractures to his clavicle and shoulder blade, bruises and abrasions on the right and left side of his face, bruises on his forehead, laceration and blunt force trauma to the back of the head, bruises to genitalia, injury and bleeding from the victim’s anus, cuts to his arm, a busted lip and burns around his mouth and on various parts of his body,” the affidavit said, according to CBS 15.

Diericx is in custody at the LaGrange County Jail awaiting formal arraignment on charges, CBS 15 reported. Additional charges are possible in the case.