UPDATE: January 29th, 2013 11:45 a.m.
CBS NewsChannel 5 spoke with Denver Children's Hospital who says the 1-year-old is doing much better. They put her in "good condition" on Tuesday. Yesterday, Cheyenne PD said their last report on the Cheyenne girl was "serious condition." Due to HIPAA regulations, no other information on her injuries can be released. The information below, including injuries, is according to the affidavit by Cheyenne Police.
A court date for Lewis A. Garcia, 19, has not been set yet.
//// January 28th, 2013 ///////
A little Cheyenne girl is in serious condition, according to Cheyenne Police, in a Denver hospital and her father is behind bars for putting her there. Lewis Allen Garcia, 19, is charged with aggravated child abuse on his 1-year-old daughter. He was arrested in Colorado and is currently in jail in Brighton, CO.
According to the affidavit, on Jan. 13th of this year, Garcia was alone with his three daughters, all under the age of 3. His wife was gone visiting her grandparents. When she got home, Garcia told her the middle child, referred to as A. G. was having breathing problems. After noticing the baby was gray in color, the two took her to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. She was then transported to Denver Children's Hospital.
When she arrived there, physicians saw blood coming from her left ear. That's when they saw bruises on both ears and on her head. After several other tests, they found the 1-year-old had bilateral hemorrhages in her eyes and bleeding in her brain. All consistent with "non-accidental trauma." A doctor from the Child Protection Team told police the child has critical head and brain injury and is currently paralyzed on her right side. The doctor said there's a good chance this will be permanent due to the brain damage.
When detectives talked to Garcia, he denied several times having any hand in her injuries. After about 40 minutes, that changed. Garcia admitted to shaking his daughter because she was crying. The detective on the case said he was in tears during the whole interview.
After asking several more question, Garcia admitted to being responsible for her injuries.
Three days later, the detective interviewed the older child, around the age of 2 at her grandparent's home. The little girl told him her sister was in the hospital. When asked why, she said, "Because my daddy threw her against a wall!"
Garcia was arrested January 25th in Colorado, charged with aggravated abuse to a child.
Investigators found out that the oldest child was formerly raised by her mother's grandmother. And the victim, the middle child, was being raised by her mother's mom and dad in Mexico. Just recently, after the third child was born last year, did all of them come together under their parents.
