MINNEAPOLIS — A Crystal man accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son has pleaded guilty.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the plea for 22-year-old Quran Mitchell calls for a 40-year prison sentence.

Authorities said the boy’s mother called 911 on the night of Feb. 11 because her son was not breathing. Paramedics found the child bruised and unconscious. He died the next night.

Mitchell, the boy and his mother rented a room in the Crystal home of another family. A woman living elsewhere in the house said the night paramedics were called, she heard loud thuds coming from Mitchell’s apartment, followed by the sound of the boy crying.

Freeman said Mitchell admitted to hitting the child several times.

Mitchell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He is not the boy’s father.