POSTED: Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - 5:45pm
UPDATED: Friday, August 12, 2011 - 9:21am
LAS CRUCES - A 7-month-old baby was flown to an El Paso hospital with life-threatening head injuries, and the boy’s mother and her boyfriend have been arrested on child abuse charges.
Danielle Workman, 22, and Jaime Cardenas, 25, both of the 300 block of east Foster Road, are charged with one count each of negligent child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.
Shortly after 11 p.m. on Tuesday, July 5, Las Cruces Police rushed to Memorial Medical Center where Workman had taken her 7-month-old boy. Detectives learned that Workman’s baby was suffering from intracranial bleeding and had several visible bruises to his forehead, left eyebrow and cheek.
The boy was subsequently airlifted to University Medical Center of El Paso due to the severity of his injuries.
Detectives were told by medical professionals that the boy’s injuries could possibly be life-threatening.
Las Cruces Police detectives learned that as many as three days ago Cardenas dropped a bottle of milk on, or threw the bottle at, the child causing one of his injuries. Workman also told detectives that she noticed suspicious bruises on her baby over the past two weeks but failed to contact authorities or seek assistance because she didn’t want to get Cardenas in trouble with the law.
Neither Workman nor Cardenas sought medical attention for the child until late Tuesday evening.
Workman is being held at the Dona Ana County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond. Cardenas, because he was found to be in violation of probation, is being held without bond.