BOTHELL — A baby girl likely was being abused for months before her parents brought her to the hospital with severe brain damage.
Doctors found healing rib fractures that were up to two months old, according to a police affidavit filed Tuesday in Everett District Court. Six weeks before she was hospitalized, the 4-month-old girl had suffered seizures also likely caused by abuse.
The girl’s father was arrested Monday for investigation of child assault and criminal mistreatment. Jacob Tusken, 21, made a brief court appearance Tuesday. He was being held on $250,000 bail.
The girl, now 13 months old, suffered permanent brain damage, according to court papers. She remains in a vegetative state, deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul said in court Tuesday. She relies on a feeding tube and is unresponsive to stimulus, Paul said.
Tusken’s attorney argued that there is no evidence that his client caused the girl’s injuries, and that it was Tusken who ultimately sought medical care for the child.
Paul argued that Tusken should have sought help sooner, and that he is criminally responsible for withholding that care.
Tusken has been under investigation since May when he and his girlfriend brought their child to Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland. The baby was later moved to Seattle Children’s Hospital. Doctors there concluded that the infant likely suffered a traumatic injury two to three days earlier and the symptoms had become progressively worse. They also concluded that she had an old brain injury and healing broken bones.
Police wanted to arrest Tusken in May but needed time to build their case, Paul said. She asked the judge to consider Tusken a danger to the community due to the child’s injuries and his behavior during the investigation.
“He has a volatile, angry temper,” she said.
Tusken faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of the assault, Paul said. Lawyers could seek additional time because the case involved a vulnerable victim. Tusken has no criminal history.
Tusken often was the primary caretaker while the girl’s mother was attending cosmetology school, according to court papers. He also told detectives that he woke up at night to feed and change the baby because the girl’s mother didn’t hear her cries.
In early June, Tusken declined to speak with detectives, and his girlfriend said that they’d been instructed not to talk to police.
A few days later the baby’s mother agreed to be interviewed. She reported seeing Tusken handle the baby roughly about a dozen times, including one occasion when she walked into the bathroom and saw the baby face down on the ground. Tusken was straddling the infant and he had his hand around the back of her neck, holding her down, court papers said.
Detectives said the woman downplayed the incidents. She also reported that Tusken had assaulted her but said he wouldn’t have hurt her if she had treated him differently, police wrote.
The couple and the child lived with the woman’s grandparents, who reportedly confronted the baby’s parents about the girl’s injuries. Tusken allegedly pulled his T-shirt over his head and didn’t offer an explanation, according to the affidavit.
Detectives seized the parents’ cellphones. They found photographs of the baby with injuries to her lip, left eye and head. One picture taken on May 13 shows that the girl’s head appears abnormally swollen, records show. There were videos of the baby having seizures.
Tusken’s phone revealed that on numerous occasions someone searched online for information about infant seizures, sleep patterns, rib fractures and broken bones. Police discovered that on March 30 the phone was used to search Google for, “Can a two month old break or crack their ribs?”
Doctors told detectives that a baby’s ribs are pliable and it would take a considerable amount of force to break them. The doctors also said that a person would likely hear or feel the ribs snap.
The online search history also showed that someone was doing research on how much babies can remember, police wrote.
The baby’s mother told detectives Tusken never talked to her about the Internet searches or his concerns about the girl’s health. She said he minimized and made excuses for the baby’s injuries, including the seizures the girl had suffered in April.
If Tusken posts bail, he is prohibited from having any contact with children, including his daughter.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
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