An Industry man was arrested Sunday after police say he left a 1-year-old child covered in red marks and bruises.
The Lewiston Sun Journal reports that the child’s mother picked up Thomas Buzzell, 25, from work Sunday and then drove to a store, leaving her son and Buzzell in the car while she shopped. When she returned to the car, she found the 1-year-old had red marks on his face.
The mother took the boy to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, but he was later transferred to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston due to his injuries, the Sun Journal reports.
“It was clear by the size of the markings on the [boy’s face] that he had been struck with a large object such as an adult hand,” a Farmington police officer wrote in an affidavit obtained by the newspaper.
Doctors, though, didn’t believe the boy was in “serious danger,” according to the Sun Journal.
The mother reported the alleged assault to the police and that Buzzell had left the hospital in her car, according to the Sun Journal.
When police later confronted him, Buzzell reportedly told officers that he had been annoyed by the child’s crying so he put a pacifier in his mouth, but denied striking the boy, the Sun Journal reports.
Buzzell, who police said was visibly intoxicated, was given a field sobriety test and arrested, the newspaper reports.
Buzzell was charged with assault on a child younger than 6 years old, a felony, and operating under the influence and operating after license suspension, both misdemeanors, according to the Sun Journal.
He was taken to the Franklin County Detention Center and later released on a supervised release agreement.