AUSTIN, Texas — A daycare worker was arrested after she allegedly dropped a 3-month-old infant, causing a skull fracture. According to the arrest affidavit, she then allowed the baby to nap and did not tell anyone about the incident for almost two and a half hours.
Leah Marie Stewart, 24, was charged following an investigation into a March 16 incident at Primrose School at Easton Park, located in southeast Austin.
Stewart was booked into the Travis County Correctional Complex on March 31 on a second-degree felony charge of injury to a child by reckless omission. She is being held on a $10,000 bond.
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According to an arrest affidavit, Stewart told investigators she tripped on the leg of a bouncer chair while carrying the infant, causing her to fall forward and drop the baby. Stewart said she did not call 911 or alert anyone because she was “terrified” of losing her job and going to jail. Instead, she picked the infant up and rocked her for several minutes while the baby cried.
The baby did not receive medical care until more than four hours after the fall. According to the affidavit’s timeline, Stewart noticed swelling on the infant’s head around 1:24 p.m. and did not inform another caregiver until 2:24 p.m. The daycare called the parents at 3:30 p.m., and the child’s father signed her out at 3:54 p.m. The parents took the infant to Dell Children’s Medical Center, where X-rays revealed a fracture on the left side of her skull.
A medical provider at Dell Children’s told investigators Stewart’s actions were dangerous and that the infant should not have been allowed to nap after the fall and should have been taken to a hospital immediately.
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CBS Austin reached out to Primrose School at Easton Park for a statement.