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September 4, 2010

Man charged with beating infant

Police believe baby suffered head trauma in store parking lot

By MATT THACKER Matt.Thacker@newsandtribune.com

CLARKSVILLE — A 23-year-old Pekin man has been charged with battering a 2-month old baby in a store parking lot in Clarksville.

The child’s mother and her boyfriend, Charles M. Bowman, had gone out for the evening on July 23 and left the baby with her great-grandmother, according to a probable cause affidavit. After picking the girl up, the couple went out to eat at Steak ‘N Shake and then stopped at Wal-Mart in Clarksville at about 11:30 p.m.

The mother went in to buy baby formula and reportedly left the child in the car with Bowman. After several minutes, Bowman called her cell phone and asked her to come back because the baby was not breathing right.

Rural Metro Ambulance Service personnel were at the store at the time and were able to perform CPR and transported the victim to Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. The emergency medical technician described her as lethargic, not responsive with eyes closed and shallow breathing.

According to court records, Bowman told police the mother slammed the door shut causing the baby to cry. He said he tried to put a pacifier in her mouth to calm her, but she began wheezing and gasping for air. He said her eyes rolled back, and she had fluid in her mouth. He denied shaking the baby except to try to wake her.

A forensic nurse reported to police the victim had suffered a “violent head injury that caused hemorrhages in the eye and subdural hematoma hemorrhage on the brain.”

She said the symptoms from that type of head trauma would show almost instantly and concluded it was the result of violent head trauma that caused apnea and unresponsiveness.

The mother had said she had bumped the child’s head on the door a few weeks earlier, but the forensic nurse ruled that out as the cause of the injuries.

The mother said her child had been fine and had no injuries at the time of her two-month check-up.

Video from Steak ‘N Shake from earlier in the evening also showed no signs of problems with the child. Wal-Mart surveillance shows the mother leaving the vehicle and then returning after about seven or eight minutes.

Bowman was charged this week with class B felonies of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury and battery resulting in serious bodily injury. He could face 12 to 40 years if convicted of both charges.

At an initial hearing Friday in Clark County Superior Court No. 1, bond was set at $15,000 cash only. A jury trial was set for Feb. 1.

Bowman is expected to hire an attorney, but none have entered an appearance yet.

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