GLASGOW, Ky. — Two people were arrested Tuesday following an investigation by the Glasgow Police Department into allegations of child abuse involving a 4-year-old child.

Dalton Jackson, 29, and Elizabeth Morris, 22, were lodged in the Barren County Detention Center on complaint warrants filed in Barren County.

According to public records obtained by Barrenside, police began investigating April 30 after officers responded to a home on McGrah Avenue for a reported child abuse complaint.

Authorities said the child had visible bruising on their body.

Morris, who police identified as Jackson’s live-in girlfriend, initially told officers the child had fallen down stairs. Jackson later gave police the same account.

According to a complaint warrant, the couple did not seek medical treatment for the child because “she seemed to act fine after the accident.”

Social services later required Jackson to take the child to the hospital, where medical personnel discovered the child had suffered a fractured vertebra in their back.

Police later interviewed the couple again at the Glasgow Police Department, where records state they continued providing the same explanation for the injuries.

After reviewing photographs of the child’s injuries, investigators concluded the bruising appeared to be in the shape of a handprint.

“The handprint was easily visible and the fingers, palm, wrist, and lower forearm area could be seen” across the child’s back side, the warrant stated.

According to police, the couple acknowledged Morris had spanked the child on multiple occasions, including after a potty-training accident and after the child had allegedly “been mean” to another child in the home.

Both Jackson and Morris reportedly told investigators they did not believe Morris had spanked the child “that hard.”

Records state the child told hospital staff, as well as teachers at their school on previous occasions, that Morris had “whipped” them following the potty-training accident.

One teacher told police she was “startled by how bad it was.”

The child was reportedly absent from school April 28. Another child in the home allegedly told teachers it was because the child wasn’t “walking well.”

Jackson and Morris were arrested Tuesday and remain lodged in the Barren County Detention Center on first-degree criminal abuse (child 12 or under) charges.

Court records show they are scheduled to be arraigned June 18.