The Iowa parents of a baby girl have been arrested after they failed to seek medical treatment after the infant was seriously injured.
23-year-old Chad Gibbs and 22-year-old Sarah Lembke are both facing charges of child endangerment/serious injury, as reported by KTIV. Court documents reveal that Gibbs admitted to falling down the stairs while holding the baby, which caused her head to hit a door frame, and also dropping her from a height of three to four feet. Shockingly, neither Gibbs nor Lembke sought medical help until hours later when the baby girl stopped breathing.
According to the records, Lembke failed to notice any signs of distress, although she did mention to investigators that the infant had been crying non-stop for approximately five hours and displayed a bruise on her face.
Documents say that Gibbs has a history of harming Lembke’s children without providing details.
Additionally, Gibbs confessed to authorities that he had unintentionally elbowed the child about a week prior and in a moment of frustration from the crying, he squeezed her tightly against his chest.
Crawford County is a sparcely populated, rural county in western Iowa.
KTIV did not say when the incident took place or provide any information about the child’s current condition or the status of the parents’ cases.