A Utah dad has been charged with aggravated child abuse after his 2-month-old son was brought to a hospital with a brain bleed.
Jacob Beal, 28, was looking after the child in his apartment while the mother was at work, according to a police affidavit. Their residence is a basement apartment, with other relatives residing in the upper level, as per KSL.
One day, a family member upstairs heard the baby crying and asked Beal to bring the child up. Witnesses mentioned that Beal seemed visibly frustrated and upset by the infant’s crying, as stated in the affidavit.
After the child fell asleep downstairs, Beal took him back up, but the baby quickly woke up crying loudly. The family member once again requested Beal to bring the child upstairs. This time, the infant started coughing and expelled a thick, bloody mucous ball from his mouth, needing assistance from the family member, according to the affidavit.
The boy was taken to Primary Children’s Hospital, where doctors found that he had “bleeding on the brain in two places likely caused by lack of oxygen,” bruising on several areas, red marks under his chin and on his neck, and “trauma inside the mouth consistent with forceful insertion of an object.”
When police questioned Beal about the injuries, he “stated he may have been too aggressive when placing the pacifier in (the child’s mouth) as he was tired and frustrated due to the crying.” He said the other injuries came from “him tripping on a baby bathtub and clothing, as he fell to the ground the baby fell to the ground below him and his chest landed on (his) chin,” the affidavit said.
Investigators said, however, that the hospital’s findings were “not consistent with Jacob’s version of events.”
Police did not update the baby’s condition.
