On February 6, 2022 Danilo Coles, 12, died after he endured several hours of physical exertion, and was beat to death in San Antonio, Texas. The boy’s father Derrick Coles, 32, and his girlfriend Kapri Cheatom, 27, were arrested on February 7, 2022.
The 12-year-old boy lived in Chicago with his mother, but Child Protective Services removed him from the home because his mother was abusing him. Danilo was then transferred to the custody of his father in San Antonio, Texas.
Officers responded to the couple’s apartment on February 6, 2022 for a report of an injured child and found Danilo unresponsive. Derrick initially said his son Danilo fell in the shower.
Danilo was transported to the hospital by ambulance where medical teams detected the kid had no brain activity. Danilo had several suspicious injuries and was pronounced dead a short time later.
Derrick and Kapri were then taken to police headquarters for questioning. During a police interview Kapri said that she and Derrick began disciplining Danilo for being disrespectful.
The discipline involved doing push-ups and holding boxes that weighed nearly 50 pounds.
Arrest affidavits say Derrick admitted to busting his son Danilo’s lip on February 6th. Also, on the same day when Danilo stated that he could not do anymore push-ups, Derrick allegedly beat the boy with a belt and welts were left on Danilo’s back.
Kapri is accused of kicking the boy while he was down on the ground.
During a hospital examination, doctors found suspicious injuries on Danilo that included severe injuries to his buttocks to the point that skin was hanging off, internal stomach bleeding, and whipping marks on his torso and legs.
Derrick and Kapri were arrested early in the morning on February 7th and charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury.
