Arizona man arrested for child abuse after baby hospitalized with skull fractures, broken ribs: PD

BUCKEYE, Ariz. – A man is accused of child abuse after a baby girl was hospitalized with severe injuries.

Buckeye Police say a 4-month-old child was hospitalized on March 13 with “extensive skull fractures, brain bleeding and broken ribs.”

Investigators say the child had been in the care of 27-year-old David Roman before being brought to the hospital.

Roman was arrested on Tuesday at a home in Buckeye, and in court, we heard exactly how many injuries the four-month-old girl had.

“Multiple skull fractures, brain bleed, and a fracture of all 22 of the child’s ribs,” said the prosecutor.

“Multiple medical exams were conducted. Multiple tests, and hospital staff ultimately determined the injuries they saw on this baby girl were not accidental,” said Carissa Planalp with the Buckeye Police Department.

In court paperwork, Roman told investigators he “stepped on a toy, dropped the baby, then partially fell on the baby.” In other conversations, he admitted the infant rolled off the bed once, and was pulled off the bed a second time by the dog. Roman’s attorney said the rib injuries might be a separate medical issue that affects many babies at childbirth.

“They’re mere accidents. There is some question as to how often these accidents occur. What’s the likeliness of all these accidents occurring. What is the probable cause he’s causing these injuries to his child. There’s no one in this courtroom that wants to see somebody get away with harming an infant that’s only months old, your honor,” said Roman’s attorney.

We asked Buckeye Police if more charges might come.

“Timelines are important, involvement is important,” said Planalp. “What we know is, in this case, a mother recognized something was wrong with her child, and brought that baby to the hospital to be checked out.”

Bail is reportedly set at $25,000 for Roman, and he can’t live in the same home as the victim.

‘I don’t see how that can be an accident’

A neighbor, who wants to remain anonymous, is a mother with young children herself, and says this incident makes her physically sick knowing this. Especially knowing it happened right across the street from her.

“For you to be in the care of someone who’s supposed to love you more than anything in the world, and to get hurt like that, to be put through that pain, I can’t even imagine,” the neighbor said.

The neighbor, a mother of three, can’t comprehend a parent doing this to their own child.

“The moment they were born, everything in life becomes about making sure they’re OK, making sure they have everything that they need,” she said.

Reflecting on her own babies at that age, she says all a 4-month-old can do is cry. She wishes she had heard that cry for help, or that the parents had reached out.

“Wouldn’t you have wished that they would have just knocked on your door and said, ‘Hey, can you help me?’ And I’m like, ‘Absolutely.’ Like, what’s one more child? Let me give you a break because I have three,” she said.

She questions what type of mental space a person would have to be in to cause that much harm.

“I know how hard they can be, but what could honestly push a parent to that point? What kind of damage could have caused this? Unless they’re in a car accident and they didn’t report it, I don’t see how something could have caused that much of an impact,” the worried neighbor said.

The mother of three says scrapes and falls happen more at the toddler stage and doesn’t believe this was an accident as the suspect claims.

“Personally, the pain and the rage of thinking of a small child going through something like that. I don’t see how that can be an accident,” she said.

The baby is still recovering at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.