By Patti Weaver
STILLWATER — A 28-year-old Stillwater man accused of causing a traumatic head injury to his 7-week-old infant between May 19 and May 21 has been jailed on $300,000 bond pending a June 9 court appearance at which he can seek a preliminary hearing.
If convicted of child abuse, Erwin Leonel Ba Choc could be sentenced to as much as life in prison, according to the felony charge filed by Payne County Assistant District Attorney John Cleveland.
Stillwater Police Officer Ricardo Inciarte wrote in an affidavit that he was contacted by his sergeant regarding the case “due to the fact that I am a native Spanish speaker.”
At the Stillwater Medical Center at 2:47 pm on May 21, “I was informed that a child under the age of 2 months had been brought into the emergency room with a severe traumatic head injury, and there was the suspicion of child abuse,” the officer’s affidavit said.
After advising the infant’s father of his Miranda rights in Spanish, “I asked him to tell me what had happened, and he told me that the couple that watches his newborn baby had called him around 9:08 and 9:25 am, but because he was working, he was unable to call back until 11:07 am.
“At this time, he was informed that something was wrong with his son; he was told that his son was not eating, and the left side of his face was swollen,” the affidavit alleged.
At 1:02 pm, “Erwin missed another phone call,” from the male caregiver, who lives across the street and went over to the defendant’s house, the affidavit alleged.
“Erwin stated that he had not gone to pick up his child because he had been changing clothes and then eating.
“Erwin then transported his child to the SMC ER where the child had to be airlifted to OU Medical Center due to the extent of his injuries. Erwin denied any wrongdoing or his child sustaining any injuries while under his care,” the affidavit said.
During a follow-up interview with the caregivers, “it was found that Erwin had been untruthful at multiple points of the initial interview with me.
“It was brought up to my attention that after the birth of Erwin’s child, Erwin had wanted to leave him at the hospital. The child’s mother also abandoned the child with Erwin and left to an undisclosed location but kept in touch with Erwin,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
The male caregiver said “he had sent pictures of the laceration to the child’s head on Saturday and asked Erwin if he was going to take him to the hospital. Erwin replied that the laceration had been caused by the baby’s nails.
“(He) also stated that today when he and his wife were urging Erwin to take the child to the ER for medical treatment, Erwin told him that it was only a cold, and it was only after a lot of pressure from (him) that Erwin agreed to take the child to the ER,” the affidavit alleged.
During a follow-up interview that evening at the police department, the baby’s father “admitted to me that he had accidentally and due to a lapse in judgment slapped his child on the side of the face. He initially insisted that when he was preparing the formula over the crib where his child was laying on, the plastic bottle slipped and struck his baby on the side of the head.
“I confronted him multiple times with the fact that what he was telling me did not match the severity or marks of the injuries of his child. He finally told me that he had been tired and had woken up around 1 am this morning because his child was fussy, and he attempted to feed him, but the child refused.
“At this point Erwin told me that he had a lapse in judgment and slapped his child with his open hand on the left side of his face. He stated that his child began to cry but stopped within ten minutes after he picked him up and apologized for what he had done.
“He also told me that when he picked him up from the crib, he kept pressing the cheek and orbital bone area of the child with his fingers because he was concerned that a bone could be broken. Erwin said that his child slept from 1 am to 6 am when he woke hm up, fed him and took him to (the caregivers’) residence for the day.
“I asked him if he could demonstrate to me how he slapped his child, and he stood up, bent slightly at the waist and cocked his right open hand back and then swung it down to the approximate height of the crib where his child had been laying,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
After arresting the baby’s father, “Later on, I was requested to respond to the jail for further translation. I was advised that OU Medical Center needed consent from Erwin to provide his child with a blood transfusion,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
