Child on life support after suspected assault by mother’s boyfriend in Tacoma
A man is accused of beating his girlfriend’s 2-year-old child over the slamming of a toilet seat in their Tacoma apartment last week.
Prosecutors charged Colby Allen Sorrells, 26, with first-degree assault of a child in the Nov. 13 incident. The boy is on life support, the child’s father, John Hurtado, told The News Tribune via phone call.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Sorrells’ behalf during his arraignment Monday at the Pierce County Superior Court. Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set bail at $2 million.
“He’s gone,” Hurtado said. “The kid that we knew is gone.”
Hurtado spoke to The News Tribune on the floor of his son’s hospital room. He found out about the attack on his son through an article and phone calls.
The last time Hurtado saw the boy, as well as his other biological child and step-child, was during a supervised visit in the summer as there is a protection order against him from his ex-wife.
“I’m focused on, on staying focused and not breaking down. I honestly don’t know if I have emotionally truly processed what has happened,” he said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to support the boy’s family.
Incident details
The call for a child not breathing and CPR in progress came in at about 10:18 a.m. Tacoma Fire Department personnel were dispatched to an apartment building near St. Helens Avenue and found Sorrells with the injured boy and two other children, a 1 year old and a 4 year old, according to charging documents.
The injured boy had visible trauma to the eyes and ribcage. His mother arrived to the apartment where she and Sorrells said that the reason for the eye bruising was because the boy previously fell down some stairs, documents show.
After the boy was taken to a hospital, a doctor said he had several small brain bleeds, apparent unrelated anoxic brain injury and possible bruises to his small intestine. The doctor said the injuries might have come from abusive head trauma. There were bruises to other parts of the boy’s body, and the doctor said it was not consistent with falling down the stairs, court records show. The boy also is not likely to survive, the doctor said.
Interviews with mother, defendant
After being advised of his Miranda rights, Sorrells told detectives the boy seemed normal at around 8:45 a.m. The boy said he was tired, so Sorrells told him to take a nap, documents show. Sorrells said he checked on the boy an hour later, and then went to wake him up around 10:15 a.m. and found the child unresponsive.
He told detectives he rolled the boy over and rubbed the his chest before he called the mother who was at work. Sorrells said he then called 911 and began CPR.
When detectives asked Sorrells about the boy’s past injuries, he again said the child fell down a set of concrete stairs a few weeks ago. He said the child fell again on some stairs on Nov. 10 because he was wearing heavy shoes and is “clumsy.”
Sorrells told detectives he had been dating the mother for about four months and moved in with her and her three children. They both recently decided that he stay at home with the children while the mother worked, court records show. Sorrells initially claimed he would never physically hurt the children as a form of discipline.
In the mother’s interview with detectives, she initially said she did not have concerns with Sorrells taking care of her children. She said later he had anger issues and that he would be emotionally abusive to her. In another interview with detectives, the mother alleged that she saw Sorrells physically abuse the injured child and his older brother.
The mother alleged that when she left for work, Sorrells was irritated, and they argued because after her son used the toilet, he closed the seat loudly which woke up the defendant. She told detectives Sorrells was upset by that, documents show.
The boy’s mother said her son was in a good mood and acted normally in the morning. Sorrells then called her when she was at work at about 10:15 a.m., frantically saying the boy was not breathing. Sorrells told her she laid her son down for a nap and discovered he wasn’t breathing when he later checked on him. The mother said it was not normal for her son to nap at 10 a.m.
Prosecutors wrote the boy’s mother showed detectives text messages from that morning where she and Sorrells argued. In the messages, Sorrells said she needed to find a daycare. The boy’s mother showed detectives a picture from Nov. 4 where the boy was doing a wall sit with his arms up as punishment while she was at work.
She denied abusing her children and said that she did not injure her son. According to charging documents, the boy’s mother expressed confidence that if she went under a polygraph, it would show she was telling the truth.
Sorrells has bench warrants out from Aberdeen, Grays Harbor and Federal Way. He has convictions, including in 2024 from Hoquiam Municipal Court for third-degree driving while license suspended, according to court records.
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the role of a polygraph test. The story has been updated to correctly reflect that role.
