MIAMI COUNTY, Ind. -- A Miami County man faces multiple neglect charges after a hospital visit uncovered injuries stemming from alleged inflicted trauma on his 5-month-old child.
According to court documents from Miami County, Gage Church has been preliminarily charged with the following counts:
- One count of neglect resulting in catastrophic injury, a Level 1 felony
- One count of neglect resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 3 felony
- One count of domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 3 felony
- One misdemeanor count of marijuana possession
On June 13, dispatch from Miami County received a call from a man, later identified as Church, who said his 5-month-old infant had fallen off a bed onto the floor. The infant was transported via aircraft to a Fort Wayne hospital.
In an interview with a pediatric surgeon at the Fort Wayne hospital, investigators were told the injuries to the infant reportedly consisted of a "closed deep head wound with internal bleeding." A consultation with an ophthalmologist uncovered "multiple intraretinal and preretinal hemorrhages," which officials described as "vessels in the eyes ruptured by force."
In an interview with the child's mother, she told police that the infant was normal, with no indication of injury, when she left for work that morning. The child's father, identified as Church, was watching the infant and there were no others at the home.
During the interview, the mother told investigators that she smokes marijuana with Church "almost every night." During a search of Church's home, officials located around four grams of marijuana, which Church identified as his own.
On Sunday, the child was flown from the Fort Wayne hospital to an Indianapolis children's hospital. The child underwent neurosurgery for "bilateral burr hole placement." Doctors at the Indianapolis children's hospital told investigation that the child's injuries were "not consistent with a short distance fall."
A report from the doctors stated the injuries to the infant would be "the result of force which a reasonable caregiver would recognize as causing harm," the documents said. Doctors also said that the infant had a rib fracture, which would be a result of a "forceful compression of the chest" that was around two weeks old.
"The report also stated 'given the absence of a plausible history to explain them, the constellation of findings in this patient is characteristic of non-accidental/inflicted trauma,'" the documents said.