Police arrested a Santa Ana man suspected of beating and severely injuring his 13-day-old son. The infant boy also tested positive for methamphetamine.
Jonathan Reyes, 22, was arrested after the boy’s mother woke up to find the child “badly beaten” and brought him to an emergency room, the Santa Ana Police Department said in a news release.
Father of 13-day-old Infant Arrested on Child Abuse Charges https://t.co/8N0X4bQ1Vx
— SantaAnaPD (@SantaAnaPD) August 21, 2019
Along with a skull fracture and internal injuries, the 13-day-old newborn was hospitalized in critical condition suffering from multiple visible injuries to his face and body.
The investigation quickly led detectives to identify Reyes, the child’s biological father, as the primary suspect, police said. Police determined that Reyes beat his infant son while in his care as the mother slept.
Reyes denied harming the child, but admitted to using methamphetamine while caring for the child when the mother was asleep, police said.
The Orange County Register reported that Reyes had been arrested in July on suspicion of a robbery that took place in March, and was free on bail at the time of the child abuse. He has pleaded not guilty to one felony count of child endangerment and abuse, and was booked at the Orange County jail in lieu of $170,000 bail.
Newborn Baby Dies After Being Beaten While in Mother’s Arms
Earlier this summer, a two-month-old boy in Wisconsin was fatally beaten while his mother held him.
Police officers in Milwaukee responded to a call of domestic violence on the morning of June 5, reported WISN. The victim, named in a GoFundMe for his family as Jaquerrion Dancer, was in his mother’s arms when the suspect started beating both of them. Jaquerrion was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead later that day.
Kenta Evans, a 21-year-old Milwaukee resident, was arrested after the incident, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, citing a criminal complaint.
According to the court papers, Evans traveled to the home of Jessica McNeal’s home, saying he wanted to see Jaquerrion, who might be Evans’ son.
But the visit quickly escalated into an argument with McNeal, whom Evans accused of having other men in the home. She ran to her room where Jaquerrion was sleeping, picked him up, and asked Evans to leave.
Evans allegedly began punching McNeal repeatedly, who had the child in her arms, until McNeal’s sister ran into the room screaming for him to stop and grabbing the baby from the mother, the outlet reported.
Noticing the baby had blood coming out of his mouth, the sister rushed the child to Children’s Hospital. The baby was unresponsive and required intubation. Jaquerrion was diagnosed with multiple skull fractures, cerebral hemorrhaging and extensive retinal hemorrhaging. The child succumbed to his injuries later that evening.
Police found Evans hiding in a closet in his mother’s house, reported Fox News 6, citing the complaint. He later allegedly admitted to police that he had gotten into an “altercation” with McNeal and at some point tried to take the child out of her arms; when she did not let go, he grew frustrated and began punching her, also striking Jaquerrion.
Evans is jailed on $75,700 bail, according to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
