A Clarksville, Tennessee woman facing charges stemming from an incident in which police say she hit her toddler over the head and left him lying on a dark stretch of interstate has plead guilty. The Paducah Sun reports 30-year-old Cynthia Palmer could spend nearly a decade in jail after pleading to charges of assault, wanton endangerment, public intoxication, and driving under the influence.
State police Trooper Trey Green testified at a preliminary hearing in March that investigators believe Palmer snorted a methamphetamine-like substance marketed as a bath salt before driving in the car with her 5-year-old son, Caleb, and 2-year-old son, Austin. Caleb told police his mother pulled the car over on Interstate 24 because she believed a bomb was inside. He tried to tell her it wasn’t real. He then said she hit Austin over the head with a folding stool and left him lying in one of the lanes while she walked away with Caleb. Green said Caleb told a social worker his mother hit Austin because she believed he was a demon or evil spirit.
Palmer's son Austin, who now has a metal plate in his head, is in his father’s custody.
