Warrant issued for dad after baby's ribs broken last year | Police/Fire

Travis Lee Alt told police he gave his baby a bath last summer with the shower head on when the child went into cardiac arrest and turned blue.

The pediatrician advising on the case doesn’t buy it. The baby was later found to have multiple rib fractures, and Alt faces a charge of neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury. A warrant was issued Tuesday for his arrest.

Alt, 32, of the 3900 block of North Clinton Street, told a Fort Wayne police officer he was giving the baby a bath about 10 a.m. June 26 using the shower fixture of the tub for a water source. He was splashing water on the child to rinse him off when the baby went into cardiac arrest.

According to court documents, CPR was administered in an attempt to revive the baby, although it is not clear by whom. The child’s age was not provided.

At the hospital, X-rays were taken and multiple rib fractures were found, court documents said. During a police interview, Alt said he had burped the baby and may have been too forceful when he did so.

Alt participated in a recorded re-enactment of the bathtub situation. Alt showed how the baby was placed in the bottom of the tub and the shower head was used even though the lower faucet was available for use. Alt said the baby was crying and that he was splashing water from the bottom of the tub to rinse the baby when he stopped breathing.

The doctor said the rib fractures were likely caused from a squeezing action and did not occur at the time of the bath and would have been unlikely to have happened from a burping action. Nor would the rib fracture have occurred during birth or during CPR. The rib fractures "would have been very painful and most likely known by the perpetrator when the injury occurred from the victim’s reactions," the doctor stated in court documents.

jduffy@jg.net