Officers responding to a report of a child being attacked in an Elm Street apartment found an 8-year-old boy in his bedroom, pressing a white towel filled with ice to his forehead, police said.

Two women came to the door when investigators knocked on Saturday, May 17, at 10:42 p.m., including the mother of the boy and of his 3-year-old sister, police said.

When police questioned the boy about his injuries in his mom’s presence, he said a friend had shoved him while they were playing at Glenfield Park and his head was knocked against a pole, authorities said. While talking to the boy, police noticed that, in addition to the large scrape and bruise on his forehead, he also had a bruise across his throat, according to police.

Both children were taken by ambulance to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, where a doctor uncovered more injuries than the police observed, including bruises on the boy’s left arm and both his thighs, authorities said.

The doctor asked the children’s mother, who The Times is not naming to avoid identifying the victims, to leave the room during the exam. When the physician asked the boy how he had gotten hurt, he replied that his mother had made plans to go out that night but couldn’t find her car keys, police indicated. She blamed him for losing them and throttled him with a belt, also striking his little sister, investigators said.

The victim told the doctor that his mother had smacked him in the head with a board-game box, as well, according to police. The girl also had been hit over the head with the game box.

The boy then told investigators that, when they came to the apartment door, his mother told him to report he had been hurt while at the park, officials said.

She was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child, police said. The children were turned over to the care of the state Division of Youth and Family Services.