Police arrested a baby’s father on a charge of first-degree battery after the child was taken to a Little Rock hospital early Wednesday with life-threatening injuries.
The Little Rock Police Department responded to Arkansas Children’s Hospital around 1:45 a.m. that morning in reference to a possible assault.
The child was transported by ambulance and later found by medical personnel to have injuries included bleeding of the brain, bruising all over his body, a broken leg and severe whiplash, according to a report.
“The brain bleeds are severe and will get worse,” authorities noted.
Agency spokesman Officer Richard Hilgeman said no updates regarding the baby’s condition were available Thursday afternoon.
The baby's mother told police that the child was in the care of his father, 22-year-old Brandon Davis of North Little Rock, who had recently lost his job and had been the acting babysitter.
Court records show Davis pleaded not guilty in Little Rock District Court on Thursday morning. He was being held at the Pulaski County jail in lieu of $500,000 bond as of the afternoon.
Davis told the child’s mother that the baby had been sleeping almost the entire time she’d been at work for about 8 and a half hours, the report states.
After running to the store for a few minutes, the mother said that she returned home to find the baby whining with his head “droopy.”
The mother’s concerns increased when she noticed the child’s eyes “rolling to the top of his head.”
“She put her hand on his forehead to see what he was looking at and was trying to get him to look at her hand and follow it,” the report states.
Police noted that the baby’s eyes went to the right and he began to drool — a sight the mother said she had never seen before.
Thinking that the child might be having seizures, the mother then called for an ambulance, according to authorities.
In July, Davis was arrested on two counts each of aggravated robbery and theft of property after holdups at two west Little Rock businesses, Arkansas Online previously reported.
He waived his right to a jury trial on those four charges earlier this month and is scheduled to appear March 2 in Pulaski County Circuit Court for a bench trial.
A review hearing is set for April 3 in district court on the first-degree battery charge, according to filings.