Police arrested a Vancouver man Friday on suspicion of child abuse after his 3-month-old son was hospitalized with possible brain damage.
Ervin Paul Ferma, 35, appeared Monday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree assault of a child and first-degree criminal mistreatment.
According to an investigator’s statement in a probable cause affidavit, the boy was brought to Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center on Aug. 6 with seizures, vomiting and general weakness.
The child was transferred to Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland, where doctors found the child had bilateral subdural hemorrhages, also called brain bleeds, and retinal hemorrhages, both indicators of nonaccidental trauma, according to court records.
Hospital staff said the child likely suffered extensive brain damage, and neither Ferma nor his wife could explain how the child injured his head, according to court records. They’re the child’s biological parents and sole caretakers.
Ferma told investigators that when playing with the baby, he would sometimes toss the boy over his head, about a foot out of his hands. He said the boy’s neck, when he landed in his hands, would swing forward and backward in a swift motion. He also said his wife was present when they’d play this way, according to court records.
The doctors said that action couldn’t cause the child’s injuries. Also, Ferma’s wife told police she never saw the two play that way, according to court records.
When investigators told Ferma the play he described couldn’t have caused the baby’s injuries, he said there was also an incident about two weeks earlier when the boy fell from his stroller and landed face-first on the wooden patio.
Ferma said the baby was unconscious and had a small red mark on his forehead, according to court records. He said he sat the baby back down and that his wife was inside at the time. She asked what the noise was, he said, but he did not tell her the boy fell or that he was hurt.
According to court records, Ferma said the boy was still and quiet for about 1 1/2 to two hours before he drank some formula then vomited.
Ferma said he didn’t seek medical care or render any first aid after the fall. He added that he also continued play-tossing the boy after the fall, according to court records. His wife said she didn’t remember hearing or seeing a fall.
Doctors re-affirmed the boy’s injuries were also inconsistent with what Ferma described.
Ferma’s bail was set at $20,000, and his next court date is Aug. 24. His pre-trial release conditions prohibit contact with the baby, or any unsupervised contact with children.
