By GREG JORDAN
PRINCETON – A preliminary hearing has been set for a Lashmeet resident who was charged with child abuse after his infant son was injured and later transferred to a Virginia hospital.
Paul Daniel Asbury, 19, of Lashmeet was charged with child abuse resulting in serious injury Feb. 17 at approximately 12:25 a.m. after his son, who is now almost 2 months old, was taken to the emergency department at Princeton Community Hospital.
Sgt. M.D. Clemons of the West Virginia State Police detachment in Princeton said in her arrest report that she was told the child was suffering from a “subdurnal bleed” in the rear portion of his brain. He also had a bruise to the right side of his mouth and a bruise on the left temple area.
After being advised of his Miranda rights, Asbury said he had been “attempting to comfort the baby and became frustrated,” Clemons said in the report.
Asbury stated that he ‘dropped’ his son into the bassinet and when doing so, observed his head ‘jolt,’” Clemons said. When the baby briefly stopped crying, he picked the child up, put a pacifier in his mouth, turned him over on his stomach and started to lay him down.
Clemons said Asbury told her that he may have put the pacifier in the baby’s mouth too hard, causing the bruise around his mouth.
Asbury is being held at the Southern Regional Jail near Beckley in lieu of $50,000 bond. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 23 at 11:15 a.m. before Magistrate Rick Fowler in Princeton.
Clemons was not available for additional comment Thursday.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
