AVON, Ind. — An Avon man is accused of badly beating his 2-month-old son after telling police he became frustrated when the child pulled his nose ring and gave him a migraine.
On Monday, April 3 around 9:15 a.m., detectives received a phone call from a Department of Child Services case manager regarding a 2-month-old baby with numerous, suspicious visible injuries.
Detectives went to the Ascension St. Vincent Emergency Room to meet up with the baby's father, 19-year-old Aaron Evans. By the time they got there, his fiancé told police he had already left to go home.
She told police she lived with Evans and a mutual friend in Avon.
While looking at the couple's baby one day, Evans' fiancé noticed bruises on his left wrist, bruising on the palm of his right and left hands, a healing cut on top of his head, a bruise above his left eye on his forehead and a bruise on his right temple.
The couple's roommate later told police that one time, they went to their room and Evans was left alone with the baby. When the roommate returned, they saw the baby crying, and the roommate thought they saw Evans remove the baby from his car seat and place him aggressively on the floor.
The roommate told police they heard a thud, and then the crying stopped. Evans then called for his fiancé's help and said something was wrong with the baby, who was unconscious at that point and did not appear to be breathing.
His fiancé then woke the baby and did an internet search about shaken baby syndrome.
That keyed their fellow roommate off to the fact she though Evans may have harmed the baby, court documents revealed.
The roommate noticed the baby was once again not breathing and appeared unconscious, so he told Evans to take him to the hospital. At that time, the roommate said Evans carried the baby to a nearby hospital.
The baby was transported to Riley Hospital for Children for further evaluation.
Evans' fiancé also told police she frequently observed moments when Evans would “plop” his baby into his car seat in an aggressive, uncareful way. His fiancé explained that when she tried to correct his behavior, he would get mad and verbally or physically respond to her.
The baby was later found to have suffered rib fractures, a new fracture to the left tibia, older right tibia fracture, a subdural hemorrhage, and many contusions that were not explained. Doctors also said there are signs that the subdural hemorrhage occurred in the past as well.
The Child Protective Team at Riley Hospital told detectives that all of these injuries are the result of physical abuse and that none of them are medical or accidental.
Around 12:30 p.m. on April 3, Avon police brought Evans in for questioning.
During transport, Evans told police that he had major anger issues that only his deceased sister was capable of calming.
Eventually, detectives claimed Evans made numerous admissions, which helped to explain the cause of his baby's injuries. An arrest report says Evans told police that the first time he injured the baby was when he was just 10 days old. He told police he got frustrated with the baby and threw him into his car seat harder than he should have.
Evans explained these incidents continued to happen every so often leading up to April 3 around 3:30 a.m. Evans told police the baby was "being fussy," and Evans said he had a migraine that was causing him a lot of pain.
Between 3:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. on April 3, Evans admitted to intentionally dropping the baby out of his arms onto the floor, swaddling the baby tightly in a blanket and using his hands to place pressure on his chest, punching the baby in the leg, and many other acts of child abuse.
Evans also told police his baby grabbed his nose ring and pulled on it, which caused him pain.
The father then decided to "inflict pain back" on his baby, according to the arrest report.
He was arrested and transported to the Hendricks County Jail. He faces charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury, and battery with serious bodily injury to a person under 14.
Evan's pretrial conference is scheduled for June 5, with his jury trial to follow on July 11.
