A Daytona Beach mother is accused of ignoring her infant daughter's broken lower leg, which had the girl "crying in agony" for weeks before she received treatment, police said Friday.
But Charlemagne Physic thought her baby was suffering from colic, she told police.
Physic, 40, was charged with felony child neglect Thursday after an emergency-room doctor reported her, telling investigators, "The mother should have known," according to a Daytona Beach police report.
Police responded to Halifax Health Medical Center in early March when Physic brought in the girl "with complaints of thrush, colic and painful swelling to the victim's right leg," according to the report. An X-ray revealed she had a spiral fracture to her distal tibia.
The physician called in police and the state Department of Children & Families to investigate.
Physic told police her daughter started crying the previous Wednesday, but she couldn't see any injury. She also made vague statements about an accident -- saying something might have happened while changing the baby's clothes, yet also denying she caused any injury.
Another woman and her son who used to live with Physic each said they noticed something was wrong. The son said one of the baby's legs was bent, "balloon swollen" and bruised. He told police he thought it might have been a rodent bite.
At the hospital, the doctor told police "the only way to explain this injury is that it was done by someone else," according to the report.
Physic was being held Friday at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $1,000 bail.
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