EVERETT — A judge Friday signed a $500,000 arrest warrant for a man accused of abusing his infant daughter and leaving her with brain damage.
Prosecutors had planned to ask the judge to increase bail for Jacob Tusken. They allege he violated the conditions of his release when he repeatedly called one of the state’s witnesses from jail. He also allegedly attempted to contact his daughter’s mother.
Tusken, 21, bailed out of jail last week and was scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
Prosecutors charged Tusken with first-degree assault of a child and criminal mistreatment.
His attorney tried to dissuade Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent from signing the arrest warrant. Walter Peale said he had been in contact with his client on Friday and was surprised that he hadn’t shown up.
There may be a reasonable explanation, but “I want to see him,” Okrent said.
Bothell police have been investigating Tusken since May when his daughter, then 4 months old, was hospitalized for seizures.
Doctors discovered that the baby had a significant brain injury. They also found healing rib fractures that were up to two months old, according to court papers. Six weeks before she was hospitalized the girl had suffered seizures also likely caused by abuse.
The girl, now 14 months old, has permanent brain damage. She remains in a vegetative state and relies on a feeding tube.
Doctors suspect that the infant likely suffered a traumatic injury two to three days before she was brought to the hospital and the symptoms had become worse as her brain swelled.
They also found an old brain injury, police wrote.
Tusken cared for his daughter while the girl’s mother was attending cosmetology school. 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.
The baby’s mother reported seeing Tusken be rough with the child 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.
Tusken’s phone showed 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.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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