Father charged in baby’s beating
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A 6-week-old girl is recovering after police said she was thrown across a room, fracturing her skull, because she wouldn’t stop crying.
Doctors who treated her also found bruising and finger impressions along her back, knee and lower leg, according to an Edinburgh Police Department report.
Her father, Bradley Kyle Eddleman, 23, of 897 E. Main Cross St., Apt. B, Edinburgh, has been arrested and charged with battery resulting in serious injury and neglect of a dependent, deputy prosecutor Doug Cummins said.
The girl was released from Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis after a few days, but it’s impossible to know now whether she suffered permanent injuries, Cummins said.
Eddleman and his wife took their daughter to Columbus Regional Hospital late on Oct. 8, and she was then flown by helicopter to Riley Hospital in critical condition.
When police first spoke with Eddleman about what had happened, he told them that at about 2 p.m. he tried to pick up his daughter but that she slipped out of his arms, fell about 2 feet and hit her head on the handle of a car seat. Eddleman’s wife got home about an hour later, heard her daughter crying and saw Eddleman sitting on the ground consoling her, the report said.
Eddleman told his wife their daughter hit her head on the car seat, and while she felt a slight swelling on the baby’s head she decided not to take her for medical treatment, the report said.
But later Eddleman told police another version of events.
After dropping his daughter onto the car seat, Eddleman got upset because she wouldn’t stop crying. That’s when he reportedly threw her 8 to 10 feet across the living room, where she hit her head on a wooden couch and went limp, the report said.
Eddleman said he was scared after his daughter hit her head but that when he checked on her she was breathing and moving, the report said.
As the day went on Eddleman’s wife saw that their daughter wasn’t eating, which was unusual, and she felt uneasy about Eddleman’s explanation about what had happened. She also noticed the swelling on their daughter’s head was getting worse, the report said.
Eddleman’s wife told him they should take their daughter for treatment because the swelling was getting worse, and she didn’t look right. When Eddleman’s wife touched the swollen area their daughter screamed, but Eddleman said that she would be all right and that he was worried about going to jail, the report said.
About 8 p.m. Eddleman, who worked as a mechanic in the Marines but is now unemployed, went to a friend’s house to fill out online job applications. While he was out, his wife called a relative who is a registered nurse with experience in pediatrics. The nurse told her to get the child treatment as soon as possible and not to wait, the report said.
Eddleman was upset with his wife, but the couple took the baby to the relative then to the emergency room, about nine hours after the injury.
Eddleman is being held at the Johnson County jail on $70,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to 23 years in prison, Cummins said.
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