"Baby John" LEWIS - 5 Weeks - Dallas TX

A 19-year-old Dallas mother couldn't get her infant son to be quiet. So,
police say, she bit him all over his body.
Danielle Patrice Lewis faces a felony charge of injury to a child. She
was being held at the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail
Friday. According to police documents, Lewis took her 5-week-old son
to Children's Medical Center Dallas on
Aug. 17 about 9 p.m. The boy was treated there for "human bite wounds
to both shoulders, upper back, middle back, left buttocks and left
thigh." The boy also "sustained contusions and
visible bruising to his back and buttocks area and slight
abrasions to his genital area," the documents said.
While at the hospital, Lewis said she did not want her child, who
is expected to recover, and left the hospital about 3 a.m. the
next day. Officers arrested Lewis at her home in the 3000 block of Larry Drive
near La Prada and Oates drives in Far East Dallas,
police said. During an interview at Jack Evans Police Headquarters,
Lewis "admitted to biting the [baby] to get him to be quiet," the
documents said. Relatives of Lewis could not be reached for comment.
Her attorney, Henry Wade, declined to comment.
Child Protective Services has placed the boy in foster care,
agency spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said Friday.
"He has some pretty extensive bite marks and some pretty severe
bruising as well," Gonzales said. "He was in pretty bad shape,
but he's getting better every day." The
agency has no record of prior investigations involving Lewis, and
the boy is believed to be her only child, Gonzales said. A ruling on
the boy's permanent placement is expected within the year.
For authorities who work with abused children, the details involved in this case
are not altogether unusual, said Dallas police Sgt. Brenda Nichols,
commander of the child abuse squad. She said cases in which an adult bites a child
often involve young, inexperienced parents. "You wonder what are you thinking when you're doing something
like this," Nichols said. "You're biting an infant because they
are fussy. But, once again, when it comes to that type of abuse –
especially of infants and small children – that's another one of
those situations that a reasonable person cannot comprehend."
Nichols said abuse cases like this one often
include other forms of physical abuse. She added that it was good
authorities got to the child when they did.
"If it hadn't been reported in some manner, it could have
progressively gotten worse and [then] you've got a huge tragedy
on your hands," Nichols said.