Girl In Coma Was Thrown Into Bathtub Mother Of Man Charged With Assault On Girlfriend’s 3-Year-Old Describes Him As ‘Mean Drunk’

His shirt covered in vomit, his patience at an end, Lance Brandvold picked up his girlfriend’s young daughter and hurled her head-first into a bathtub, authorities say.

The 3-year-old girl, crying and sick to her stomach, struck her head on the edge of the tub and went into a coma Monday afternoon.

Amanda Welch was still unconscious Wednesday, listed in critical condition in the pediatric intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Friends of the family don’t expect her to live.

Brandvold was charged Wednesday afternoon with one count of first-degree assault on a child. Court Commissioner Virginia Rockwood ordered him held on $1 million bond.

His mother and sister said it was only a matter of time before the unemployed furniture builder hurt someone.

They said they told the girl’s mother, 41-year-old Judy Sorenson, to be careful around him.

“I warned Judy about him, but she didn’t listen,” said Kathy Laird, Brandvold’s mother.

Laird said the oldest of her four children was a “mean drunk” who became violent when he used alcohol or drugs, which was quite often.

Brandvold, 38, has a history of abusing women he dates and their children, she said.

When he was 17, Brandvold held his 2-year-old sister out a second-story window and threatened to drop her, Laird said.

“When he’s sober, he’d give you the shirt off his back,” she said. “When he’s drunk, watch out! He’s even beaten me.”

It was unclear if Brandvold had been drinking Monday afternoon.

According to court documents, Brandvold was baby-sitting Amanda while Sorenson was at work.

About 1 p.m., he gave the child a cheese sandwich, then put her down for a nap.

When he checked on her some time later, she was crying and had vomited on herself and her bed, court records state.

Brandvold told detectives he took her into the bathroom of an apartment in the 11000 block of East Third and began filling the tub with water to clean her up.

As he was taking off her soiled clothes, she threw up on him and began crying uncontrollably, the records state.

Brandvold, who is 5-foot-11 and weighs 186 pounds, told detectives he got “angry and mad” and “tossed” the girl into the bathtub.

Amanda hit her head in the fall and lost consciousness, Brandvold said.

“Lance said he tried to wake Amanda up,” Detective Kevin Bechtold wrote in an affidavit. “That he knew she was ‘hurt bad’ because her eyes were fluttering back and forth.”

Instead of calling 911 or taking the girl to a doctor, Brandvold said he dressed the child and put her back to bed.

When Sorenson got home from work about 3:30 p.m., he told her only that “Amanda is very sick.” He then left the house, according to court records.

Sorenson told detectives she found her unconscious daughter lying face-down on her bed. The girl had a large bruise on her upper forehead, she said.

Sorenson waited nearly three hours before deciding to take her daughter to Valley Hospital and Medical Center, deputies said.

Relatives of Brandvold saw the woman driving erratically on Pines Road just before 7 p.m. and helped her get the girl to the emergency room.

Doctors at Valley Hospital decided Amanda needed more extensive treatment and transferred her to Sacred Heart Medical Center by helicopter.

Dr. Jim Mellema of Sacred Heart told investigators the girl had bleeding in her brain that was causing a “distressed heart and breathing rate.”

“The injuries create a high probability of death,” Mellema said. Brandvold could face a murder charge if the child dies.

According to court records, state Child Protective Services took Amanda away from Sorenson and her former husband, Richard Welch, shortly after the girl was born. The records didn’t say why.

The agency returned Amanda to her mother about three months later.

In 1994, a judge prohibited the girl’s father from having any contact with her after he and Sorenson divorced.

Court records indicate he had a history of domestic violence and a “long-term emotional or physical impairment which interferes with the performance of parenting functions.”

Laird said she blames both her son and Sorenson for what happened to the little girl who calls her “Nanna.”

“I want to know why she didn’t take her to the doctor right away. I want to know why she let Lance watch her in the first place,” said Laird, who lives in the same apartment complex. “They’re both at fault.”

Sorenson couldn’t be reached for comment.

Laird also said she had conflicting emotions about her son’s circumstances.

“In one part of my heart, I still love him because he’s my son,” she said. “In the other part of my heart, he’s an animal. I feel like a heel. Like, what did I do wrong?”

, DataTimes