A Kentucky mother has been taken into custody and is now facing child abuse charges after she allegedly tattooed her one-year-old at her Adair County home.
Brook McDaniel, 27, was arrested on Monday, May 4, after Kentucky State Police said they received a complaint and went to a residence in Monticello.
According to an arrest citation, McDaniel used a tattoo gun inside the home and left permanent ink on her infant’s skin. In Kentucky, tattooing anyone under 16 is treated as assault or child abuse under the law.
Investigators said that when they arrived, McDaniel admitted ink got onto the child. She reportedly told officers she had “been tattooing her leg, and the child walked up to her and stuck his arm in the way of her tattoo gun.”
Troopers wrote that they checked on the child at the scene and observed a “black dot tattoo on his right forearm with redness around the area,” which they said matched the allegation, Lex18 reported.
Authorities also noted that witness accounts at the residence did not fully align with McDaniel’s explanation.
Several people allegedly told police the tattoo was done because the child asked for it, describing it to troopers as a “party dot tattoo and that he [the child] wanted the tattoo.”
McDaniel has been charged with fourth-degree assault-child abuse in connection with the mark, described as a single small black dot on the child’s arm.
She was booked into the Adair County Regional Jail the same day on a $5,000 bond. Court scheduling information was not publicly available at the time of reporting.
McDaniel’s reported statement that it was accidental has been weighed against Kentucky’s requirements for tattooing minors.
Kentucky state regulation 902 KAR 45:065, Section 7 states: “(1) A person shall not perform any tattoo procedure on a minor without custodial parent or legal guardian consent.
“(2) A minor shall be at least sixteen (16) years old with custodial parent or legal guardian consent prior to tattooing.”
Police said the inquiry remains active. Troopers also said they referred the situation to the Department for Community-Based Services after reporting “deplorable” conditions at the Monticello property.
Online reaction to the arrest — which centers on a single inked dot — has been divided, with some arguing the response was excessive and writing: “I feel like arresting the mom is significantly more traumatizing for the child than a tattooed dot.”
Others rejected the idea that the child’s alleged request should matter, countering: “‘He wanted one’ is a wild defense when the person in question still probably watches cartoons before bed.”