By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 22-year-old Cushing man, who was arrested by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at his apartment on Tuesday, remained jailed on $50,000 bail today on a charge accusing him of abusing his two-month-old baby boy, who remains hospitalized with very serious injuries, authorities said.
Cody Dean Floyd was arraigned from the Payne County Jail on Wednesday by Special District Judge Michael Kulling, who ordered him to appear with an attorney on Oct. 9 on a child abuse charge, court records show.
The baby had been taken by his mother, after she got home from work at 2:30 p.m. Monday, to the Cushing hospital’s emergency room from which he was transferred to the OU Children’s Medical Center, OSBI agent Rachell Savory wrote in an affidavit.
The baby’s injuries were described by the OU charge nurse as including “swelling eyes, inability to regulate temperature, seizures, bilateral skull fractures with subdural hematoma, injury under the right armpit, and contusions on the lower back,” the affidavit said.
The baby required intubation while at the OU Medical Center emergency room, where he was reported in stable condition, the affidavit said.
The baby’s mother said that the infant did not have injuries when she left for work on Monday, but when she got home about 2:30 p.m. that day, the baby “was unable to lift his head, had a moaning high-pitched cry, and cried more when she picked him up,” the affidavit said.
She said “the baby smelled ‘poopy’ but he did not have a dirty diaper. She changed his diaper and clothes,” then took him to the Cushing hospital’s emergency room, the affidavit said.
The baby’s mother said that Floyd, her boyfriend of four years, kept the infant and her one-year-old daughter at home while she worked six days a week, the affidavit said.
“Floyd was unemployed, but watched the children and maintained the residence,” the baby’s mother told the OSBI agent, according to the affidavit.
The baby’s mother said that neither of the children had injuries before she left for work, the affidavit said.
On Monday, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services took her one-year-old daughter into protective custody, after which she was examined by the Saville Center clinical services director and found to have no injuries, the affidavit said.
When the OSBI agent interviewed Floyd on Tuesday, he said he stayed home with the children while their mother worked, the affidavit said.
On Monday, the baby’s mother left home after 7 a.m., the affidavit said. “She walked to work and had to be there by 10 a.m.,” the affidavit said.
Floyd said that at about 11:30 a.m. he woke to the baby and his one-year-old sister screaming and crying, the affidavit said.
“Floyd was half asleep and mad,” the affidavit alleged. “Floyd explained that he ‘snapped’ and ‘slammed’ (the baby) to the floor,” the affidavit alleged.
“Floyd demonstrated how he held (the baby) at his (Floyd’s) waist level and with both hands and slammed (the baby) to the floor,” the affidavit alleged.
“Floyd heard a ‘popping’ sound,” the affidavit alleged. The baby cried “a choking cry,” the affidavit alleged.
“Floyd tried to calm (the baby) by wiping him with a wet washcloth and giving him a bottle,” that he would not take, so Floyd gave him a pacifier, the affidavit alleged.
The baby calmed and went to sleep until about 2:30 p.m. when his mother arrived home from work, the affidavit alleged.
“Floyd was afraid to tell (the baby’s mother) what really happened so he told her that he dropped (the baby) on the floor,” the affidavit alleged.
“Floyd initially told agents that (the baby) was crying so Floyd went to change him,” the affidavit alleged.
The baby was soaking wet and ‘poopy’ so Floyd held him “in his right arm while grabbing a diaper with his left arm,” after which the baby rolled away from him and hit the front of his head on the leg of a rocker bassinet, Floyd allegedly initially told the OSBI agents, the affidavit said.
The child abuse investigation was initiated by the state Department of Human Services on the request of the Cushing hospital, the affidavit said.
The Payne County District Attorney’s Office was notified of the incident and requested that the OSBI investigate the allegations of child abuse, the affidavit said.
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