A Rowan County man has been charged with felony child abuse after deputies said a baby in his care was brought to the hospital with bleeding on the brain and bone fractures.
The investigation began on Wednesday, when the Rowan County Department of Social Services notified the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office of a report of a two-month-old child being brought into the hospital with injuries consistent with abuse, wrote the sheriff’s office in a release. The incident causing the injuries reportedly occurred on Sunday.
During the investigation, detectives discovered that the boyfriend of the child’s mother, 37-year-old Kevin Eugene Morrison Jr., had contacted 911 on Sunday and told telecommunicators that the child was unresponsive, according to the release. The child was treated by EMS and taken to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center before being transferred to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte.
During treatment of the child, hospital staff reportedly discovered injuries including bleeding on the brain and bone fractures. Morrison told staff that the child had rolled off a couch, but that explanation did not cover the injuries, according to the release.
“During the investigation, detectives with the sheriff’s office and social workers with DSS eventually obtained a confession from Morrison that the injuries were caused by him on Dec. 14 when he was frustrated that the infant was excessively crying,” wrote the sheriff’s office in the release.
Morrison was arrested on Wednesday and charged with felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury. He was placed in the Rowan County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond due to the Pre-Trial Integrity Act.
