CPS now accuses dad of murdered infant of abusing baby last July (Fort Worth, Texas)

Abuser coddling at its finest. Dad is identified as GREGORY D. WILLIAMS.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12/05/3573084/father-of-infant-who-died-is-arrested.html

Father of infant who died accused of earlier injury


Posted Monday, Dec. 05, 2011 Updated Tuesday, Dec. 06, 2011

By Deanna Boyd Fort Worth Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- A father whose 5-month-old son's death last week has been ruled a homicide was arrested Monday, accused of fracturing the infant's arm in July.

Child Protective Services officials say Gregory D. Williams, 36, had been prohibited from contact with his two sons after the July incident involving his youngest son, Demetrie Reeves, then 1 month old.

However, police say, Williams was watching Demetrie and another son, age 2, at a Fort Worth apartment Nov. 29 when Williams reported that Demetrie had stopped breathing after being given generic cough medicine.

The baby was pronounced dead that day at Cook Children's Medical Center. An autopsy determined that Demetrie died of a head injury.

On Monday, Fort Worth police fugitive officers arrested Williams in Euless on a warrant accusing him of injury to a child in the July incident. Police say that the investigation of Demetrie's death is continuing and that additional charges against Williams are expected.

Williams was in the Fort Worth Jail on Monday night with bail set at $10,000.

Sgt. Pedro Criado, a police spokesman, declined to answer questions about the investigation Monday "in order to the maintain the integrity of the ongoing case."

Domestic violence concerns

CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said her agency began investigating Demetrie's parents in 2009 after receiving reports of domestic violence. The case was closed after the couple moved apart, she said.

In June, after Demetrie was born, CPS opened another case because of concerns about drug use, and caseworkers learned that the couple was back together, Gonzales said. Because caseworkers were concerned that domestic violence might still be an issue, Gonzales said, Williams was told to have only supervised contact with his sons.

On July 17, Demetrie was taken to the children's hospital after his mother became concerned that he was not moving his right arm. Williams had picked the baby up by holding his right arm just behind the armpit, according to a police report.

Doctors determined that the arm had a spiral fracture, consistent with the child being picked up in such a manner, and Demetrie left the hospital that day, the report says.

The family was called and police were summoned two days later after a specialist's review of Demetrie's X-rays found a radial fracture in the baby's right elbow and a possible fractured rib, the report says.

Williams acknowledged to the officer that he had caused his son's injury by picking Demetrie up by his arm.

"He stated it was not intentional and he had done it to other children with no issues," the report says.

The affidavit states that the officer also talked to the attending physician, who said that the arm injury was "consistent" with the history provided by Williams and the boy's mother.

In an interview last week with a detective, Williams admitted that he used poor judgment in picking up the baby by the arm in July but maintained the injury was an accident, the affidavit says.

Parenting classes

In July, Williams had become upset when a CPS worker at the hospital told him he could not see Demetrie until he completed anger-management classes and also until the investigation was complete.

Williams has since completed a parenting class and a drug intervention class, and Demetrie's mother completed drug education, parenting and domestic violence classes, and she has an extended family helping to care for the children, Gonzales said.

"I think that it is evident that we were really trying to work with her to make sure that not only the children were safe, but we were also stabilizing the situation so that the children would not have to come into foster care," Gonzales said.