3-Month-Old Baby Suffers Rib Fractures, Broken Bones; Father Arrested For Aggravated Child Abuse

A 28-year-old man in Wyoming was arrested Monday for brutally abusing his 3-month-old child.

The child suffered 26 rib fractures and five broken bones in his legs, Gillette News-Record reported. Tyler Martinson, 28, was charged with 31 counts of alleged aggravated child abuse. If convicted, he could face a maximum prison penalty of 25 years on each count.

Court documents revealed the child's parents took him to the emergency room because he was crying, "inconsolable," and was unable to move his right leg. They could also hear a sound from his ribs when he breathed, local media outlet Cowboy State Daily reported.

Tests conducted on the baby boy showed he had "multiple bilateral posterior breaks [sic.] to his ribs that were in various stages of healing," according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case. "These breaks [sic.] showed they were in three different stages of healing," Gillette News-Record reported.

The abuse also left the child with a 45-degree angle break to his right femur and damage to the end of the femur by his kneecap.

Doctors attending to the baby told the police his injuries came from "high-speed brute force" trauma like extreme squeezing or shaking. After receiving emergency treatment, the child was flown to the University of Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Colorado.

The affidavit stated the child's father was alone with the baby while his mother went to work.

During questioning, Martinson told police he thought the boy had a bowel obstruction. He "was pushing on his legs, trying to help him poop because it helped last time," he told authorities. "I must have gone to(o) hard."

Last month, a 29-year-old Michigan man was charged with two counts of felony child abuse and torture after his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter died. Samuel Smart was accused of hitting the child. The toddler was taken for medical treatment but was later declared dead. She had suffered severe bruises and internal bleeding at the time of her death, police said at the time.