Dad arrested for fracturing skull of 5-week-old son (Athens, Georgia)

UNNAMED DAD has been arrested on charges of child cruelty and aggravated assault, after his 5-week-old son was found with a fractured skull while under Dad's "care."

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/120109/cop_530580900.shtml

Father faces charges in infant's head injury

news@onlineathens.com
Published Tuesday, December 01, 2009

A 27-year-old Athens man was arrested Monday on child cruelty and aggravated assault charges, accused of fracturing his 5-week-old son's skull in his apartment in Southeastern Clarke County, Athens-Clarke police said.

The man was caring for the child about 2:30 a.m. Monday when the infant's mother woke to find the infant crying and his head bruised and swollen, police said.

An ambulance took the child to Athens Regional Medical Center, where doctors determined his skull was fractured and he was bleeding internally, police said. A helicopter took the child to Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta, they said.

The father told officers he'd put the infant in a car safety seat and was walking to the kitchen to get a bottle of formula when the seat caught on a table and the child fell to the floor, police said.

"The injuries (the infant) received were not consistent with the story (the man) gave us," said Lt. David Leedahl, who is in charge of the Athens-Clarke police Domestic Violence Unit.

The case in under investigation by detectives and the Clarke County Department of Family and Children Services, Leedahl said.

The home was unsuitable for children, Leedahl said. Dirty clothes and diapers covered the floor, a heavy odor of cigarette smoke hung in the air, and a butcher knife and scissors lay within reach on a coffee table, according to a police report.

The Banner-Herald is not identifying the man to protect his son and his 17-month-old daughter, who was home at the time of the alleged assault.