ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – An Orlando man arrested last week is accused of shaking his infant son to the point of seizure and cardiac arrest, what detectives said has left the baby boy on life support since January, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
32-year-old Malcolm Nelson’s child was hospitalized with a brain bleed the morning of Jan. 23, 2023, deputies said. The baby was three months old at the time and had been taken to the hospital for “vomiting episodes” the prior night, seen by his parents at their Ormond Beach home to be “limp and unresponsive” the next day, according to a charging affidavit.
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Nelson told investigators he had fed, kissed and bounced the child that morning before putting him down so he could say goodbye to his other children, soon picking him back up once he became fussy and started to cry. This, the 32-year-old claims, was when the boy went limp and appeared to not be breathing, the affidavit states.
While at the hospital, Nelson was informed the baby had a seizure due to the brain bleed, which caused cardiac arrest. The boy’s heart had stopped for some 16 minutes, deputies said.
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Over the coming days and weeks, investigators were advised that the baby had questionable bone fractures at different stages of healing and other injuries that indicated “whoever had the baby last was the one who caused the injury,” the report states.
Nelson was arrested last week in Orlando after a warrant was obtained, later transferred Tuesday afternoon from the Orange County Jail to the Volusia County Branch Jail, deputies said. The Volusia County Sherriff’s Office in a statement to News 6 said that the facts had to be gathered and presented to the State Attorney’s Office for consideration before the warrant could be obtained.
Nelson faces a charge of aggravated child abuse and was issued a $150,000 bond. He could face an upgraded charge if the boy, now 11 months old, doesn’t recover from his injuries, according to a news release.
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