A mother in Duval County, Florida, is charged with aggravated child abuse after her baby girl was found to have multiple skull fractures.
Jacqui Lyne Carter, 33, was arrested nearly three months after the child had surgery for severe head and brain injuries.
Stephen Bayer is the child's father and told WJAX-TV the same thing the child's mother told police: The child hurt herself.
“The child hit her head on a bouncy seat,” Bayer said.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the child was transported to the Park West emergency room on Aug. 19, where a CAT scan revealed multiple skull fractures.
She was then transported to Wolfson Children’s hospital for surgery for not only the skull fractures, but also for multiple brain bleeds. The child also had a large epidural hematoma.
Meghan Munson is a former neighbor and says DCF would come by on a regular basis.
"She [Carter] seemed like she was gone a lot, a lot of men in and out of the house," Munson said.
This isn’t Carter’s first run-in with the law. She has been arrested at least five times previously for charges ranging from drug possession to battery.
The baby girl’s father says he drove her to the hospital after he noticed her injury. But he says he wasn’t greeted with sympathy at the emergency room.
“The nurse accused me of being an alcoholic and a child abuser and they chose her instead of me to [expletive] take the fall for this," Bayer said.
Police say a CAT scan showed the child likely suffered more than one blow to the head.
DCF said the child and another child were taken out of the home at some point since the incident and are now safe.
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