7 week old dies after felony child abuse charges filed

The 7 week old baby that suffered severe trauma leading to child abuse charges passed away today. Upgraded charges are possible, according to police.

A man from New Albany, Mississippi, Arthur Eurek, is facing felony child abuse charges that say he critically injured the infant while in his care. The seven-week-old child suffered severe head trauma, brain swelling, two brain bleeds, strokes, broken ribs, and bleeding in the vertebrates, among other injuries. Eurek is being held on $100,000 bond.

According to New Albany Police Chief Chris Robertson, the case against Eurek began to develop when police received a call on April 23 from a social worker at LeBonheur Hospital in Memphis. The caller said the child had sustained injury so serious as to constitute a child abuse case. Doctors at the hospital believe the infant had sustained some type of severe head trauma and was unresponsive.

Chief Robertson said the child’s mother and Eurek were involved in a romantic relationship when she left the child in Eurek’s care to go to work earlier on April 23. Eurek is not the child’s father.

The infant was originally taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Union County by ambulance, and later transferred to the Memphis hospital, the chief said. The child’s mother reported that the infant suffered brain swelling, two brain bleeds, hemorrhaging behind the eyes, strokes, and went 45 minutes without a pulse, no normal brain function, 3 broken ribs, bleeding at L1 and L2 vertebrates, and had to be put on a ventilator. The mother also stated that the infant would have never been able to walk, talk, or do anything else on his own.

The case will be presented to the next session of the Union County Grand Jury, which meets on October 4-6. Charges could be upgraded, according to the police chief.