An Edgewater construction worker accused of severely abusing a 14-month-old boy appeared before a judge this afternoon and was ordered held without bail.
Brian Bouchard, 21, is charged with aggravated child abuse. He acknowledged the charges read to him by a judge but said nothing else.
Volusia County sheriff's deputies caught Bouchard on Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. during a traffic stop in Edgewater, after being tipped that Bouchard was traveling in the car, authorities said.
He is suspected of physically abusing 14-month-old Isaiah Mitchell, who was found unresponsive with severe bruising and swelling of the face by rescue workers at 6:53 p.m. Saturday at a Parkway Street home near DeLand.
It is not clear how the baby suffered the severe life-threatening injuries as Bouchard changed his story of how Isaiah Mitchell got injured but gave details of injuries the child had.
In one account, Bouchard -- who said he'd drank two beers when the baby was hurt -- said the child fell from an 18-inch-high step and hit his head on a bassinet pad. He then said there was a second fall by the boy. The child then vomited multiple times, the report said.
In another account, Bouchard said he pushed open a bedroom door with his shoulder and did not see Isaiah behind it, and it slammed on the child's back, making him fall facedown on the floor. The child had a large area of bruising on his back and a lump the size of a golf ball on the back of his head, Bouchard told investigators.
In another instance, Bouchard told deputies he scooped up the child by one arm and, as he tried to close a bathroom door, the baby fell from his hold and fell head first into the uncarpeted hallway floor.
After that, the child lost his coordination and was running sideways and was missing things he was trying to reach for, the report states.
And in another explanation, Bouchard said he was running through the house and knocked down the baby when he struck the child in the back of the head with his knee, the report said.
"I hit him hard and he tumbled," Bouchard told investigators.
Bouchard said, "Today I was having a bad day," the report states.
Asked how the baby reacted when he fell, Bouchard told investigators, "He was just like shocked ... astounded. He had a blank look, but his eyes were wide."
Bouchard said he saw the child's eyes roll.
"He looked terrified, like he was just scared," Bouchard states in the report.
Isaiah Mitchell was found unresponsive at a Parkway Street home near DeLand Saturday at 6:53 p.m. He had severe bruising and swelling on his face. [..]
Doctors said the child injuries are not the result of falling from Bocuhard's hand or being hit by a bedroom door. The child had several skull fractures and believe the child was battered with a tremendous amount of force to cause so much bleeding on his brain, investigators said.
The child's mother, Brittany Dishong, 20, was at work at the time of the injuries, deputies said. According to the report, in the more than 2 1/2 hours after Isaiah was hurt, Bouchard called her 10 times, but did not call 9-1-1. Dishong came home and called 9-1-1.
According to the report, Bouchard didn't call 9-1-1 because he feared his probation would be revoked.
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Originally Posted by navsec
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