SILOAM SPRINGS (KFSM) — Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a Siloam Springs man accused of abusing his 3-month-old son in April.
Cristian Rolando Bernardino-Marriquin, 33, was arrested July 17 in connection with first-degree domestic battery.
Siloam Springs police were called to Siloam Springs Regional Hospital on April 24 after a baby arrived with injuries consistent with being shaken, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Bernardino-Marriquin at first told police he didn’t know how his son was injured. He said he picked him up from the babysitter around midnight and went home to feed him.
Bernardino-Marriquin said his son vomited blood while trying to feed him, so he took him to the hospital, according to the affidavit.
The boy was flown to St. Edwards Hospital in Tulsa, Okla, where doctors discovered he had an altered mental state, subdural hematoma, contusions on his back, retinal hemorrhages and continued seizures.
An update on the boy’s condition wasn’t immediately available Thursday (July 26).
Bernardino-Marriquin told investigators he may have injured his son by accidentally banging his head against a plastic car seat. He later said he dropped him while tripping over a water bottle.
Doctors said the boy’s injuries were consistent with being shaken, not dropped, according to the affidavit.
Bernardino-Marriquin was being held Thursday (July 26) at the Benton County Jail on a $150,000 bond. He has a hearing set for Aug. 27 in Benton County Circuit Court.
First-degree domestic battery can be a Class Y felony if a person knowingly causes serious physical arm to anyone younger than 4 “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life,” according to Arkansas Code Annotated 15-13-201.
In Arkansas, Class Y felonies are the most serious crimes in Arkansas not punishable by death. A person convicted of a Class Y felony could face life in prison.
