A 23-year-old Arkansas man is facing a charge of first-degree battery after his 3-month-old son was found to have suffered serious injuries, authorities said.
Zachary Tyler McCollum of Midway was already being held on unrelated charges in Marion County when investigators this month obtained a warrant for his arrest in the case involving the infant, Baxter County sheriff John Montgomery said Friday.
Authorities in Arkansas began investigating after a Dallas hospital notified them last April that an infant at the facility had been found with "multiple rib fractures and a femur fracture that were in the process of healing," Montgomery wrote in a news release.
Police determined that the injuries were sustained in Midway before McCollum moved to Texas with the child, the release said, noting McCollum "gave incriminating statements to the investigator."
McCollum acknowledged being high on methamphetamine in March 2016 when he picked up the crying child and squeezed him, Baxter County sheriff's office Chief Deputy Jeff Lewis said Friday, reading from an Arkansas State Police affidavit.
McCollum will have bail set at $100,000 when he is later moved to Baxter County, Montgomery wrote.
The release didn't indicate the child's current condition. A message left seeking additional information wasn't immediately returned Friday morning.
The Marion County sheriff's office website shows McCollum is being held there on failure to appear charges.