SAN ANTONIO – A woman was charged in connection with the death of her weeks-old son after she said she hit him “hard” out of frustration, according to San Antonio police.
Samantha Elizabeth Baker, 21, was taken into custody on Wednesday on a charge of injury to a child-serious bodily injury with intent, a first-degree felony, records with the Bexar County Jail show.
An arrest warrant affidavit states that her infant son, identified as Fletcher Sterling, died from injuries caused by blunt-force trauma.
Baker initially told investigators that on Saturday night, she swaddled the baby in a blanket and placed him in the bassinet face-up, the affidavit states. She said she woke up hours later to find him still in the blanket, face-down and unresponsive.
She called the baby’s father, who was at work, to tell him that the baby was unresponsive. The father immediately called 911 and left work, police said.
Emergency medical services responded to their home and transported the infant to the hospital. The affidavit states that Baker remained at the home to wait for the baby’s father, and they then took an Uber to the hospital.
The boy was pronounced dead at 1:50 a.m. Sunday at the hospital. He would have turned one month old the following day.
An autopsy later revealed that Fletcher suffered a skull fracture to the left side of his head, and it was attributed to blunt-force trauma, the affidavit states.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office told investigators that his “injuries were inconsistent with the defendant’s recollection of events.”
When questioned again by the police, Baker initially continued to give officers the same account of events but eventually said she hit her baby, the affidavit states.
According to investigators, Baker said she hit the infant “hard” about three times on his head with an open palm. Baker said she “became frustrated when the victim began to cry and took her frustration out on the victim,” the affidavit states,
Her bond is set at $200,000. A booking image for Baker was not available as of Thursday morning.
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