Stepfather accused of slamming three-month-old to ground
ROUND ROCK, Tx. (KXAN) – A step father is in custody accused of injuring a 3-month-old baby causing bruising, hemorrhaging, fluid collection in the brain, and a spinal fracture.
Round Rock police were called to a home on Sept. 10 for a welfare check. Arriving officers discovered the step son of Jamie Jesse Coddington injured and in need of immediate medical treatment. The baby was transported to the Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin.
The great Aunt of the child told police she noticed bruising on the baby’s face that was not there when she left the home earlier that day. Coddington claimed the baby fell off of a couch and landed on a toy train. Fearing for the child’s safety, prior to the 911 call the Aunt asked a nurse she knows to look over the baby. The nurse said he needed to be taken to the hospital.
Along with the Aunt and the baby, Coddington got in a car to drive the child to the hospital. According to the affidavit, before they arrived at the hospital Coddington said he was afraid of a Child Protective Services investigation and police involvement so they drove away. Once they returned home, the Aunt discovered more bruising on the baby’s body while changing his diaper and called another nurse who informed 911.
A Sept. 11 police interview with the baby’s sibling revealed that he witnessed the child “slammed” to the ground by Coddington. The sibling told the family nurse he saw Coddington spank the baby “very very hard with his hands,” and “slammed him onto the bed.”
Doctors said the baby was bruised on both eyes, ears, upper lip and back. He also had hemorrhaging to the left eye, fluid build up in the brain and a spinal fracture.
Coddington was booked into jail on Nov. 4 and is being held on a $100,000 bond.
There is no information on the condition of the baby at this time.