A 29-year-old man from Pennsylvania escaped incarceration after he slept off a hangover while his two-year-old daughter sustained severe frostbite outdoors during a winter storm, clad only in a T-shirt and diaper. Joshua Ryan Kitner entered a guilty plea on Tuesday to a charge of endangering the welfare of a child in Cumberland County. The court imposed a sentence of two years of probation. In accordance with the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed two charges of aggravated assault of a child. Local ABC affiliate WHTM reported that temperatures remained in the teens and up to a foot of snow blanketed parts of the state at the time of the incident.
A probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime stated that Kitner told investigators he awoke at approximately 5 p.m. on Jan. 29 and discovered the child outside his residence on Steelstown Road in North Newton Township. He indicated that he believed his daughter became locked out of the house while letting the dog outside to relieve herself. Kitner served as the sole adult supervising his daughter that day. He subsequently admitted to being hungover from consuming eight or nine beers the previous evening, according to the affidavit.
“Kitner advised the victim was seated on her butt and dozing off,” police wrote. “Kitner further related the victim was cold and her feet/toes were frozen and purple, almost black in color.”
Authorities determined that the child suffered from “severe frostbite.” Emergency medical personnel transported her to the hospital, where she remained in the burn unit for approximately one week. Following her discharge, she required an additional month of follow-up medical appointments, according to the affidavit.
The child also sustained frostbite to her hands, with the most severe damage affecting her feet, which narrowly avoided surgical intervention.
WHTM reported that two women, ages 27 and 30, faced charges of obstructing a Cumberland County Children and Youth Services investigation and failing to comply with a court order related to the case.
The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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