AVONDALE, AZ — An Avondale man was arrested after his 2-month-old boy was found to have a broken thigh and "cerebral contusions."
Avondale police report that on Feb. 10, they were contacted by the Arizona Department of Child Safety regarding a 2-month-old boy at the hospital with a thigh fracture.
Police questioned the boy's mother, who said that she left the boy with his father, 30-year-old Eric Jermaine Cole, as she went to run errands. She later reportedly received a phone call from Cole asking her to come home because the baby was crying inconsolably.
When she returned home, police say, she noted the "his leg bone was cracking, and it felt like his bone was loose." She took the infant to the doctor then to the hospital.
A body scan done at the hospital confirmed the broken thigh and found "three cerebral contusions."
When questioned, Cole reportedly told police that the baby was always crying, so he called the baby's mother, saying, "Hurry home before I do something stupid."
After getting the report from the hospital, Avondale detectives contacted Cole again on February 13. At this time, Cole allegedly told them that he was ready to turn himself in "because he beat his child and broke his leg."
Police say Cole told them that he dropped the baby after a bath and the infant was crying inconsolably, so he shook him and threw him on the bed. Cole reportedly then left the room.
He is being held on a $125,000 cash bond for child abuse.
