A Lexington man accused of injuring a 1-month-old last year was indicted on criminal abuse charges Monday.
Matthew Logan Byers, 26, "intentionally abused and thereby caused physical injury" to a 1-month-old "in a situation that may have caused serious physical injury," according to the indictment.
According to circuit court documents, police officers were called to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital on Dec. 18, 2014, for a suspected case of child abuse after the child appeared to have fractured femur. It was later found that the child had seven fractures to ribs and extremities. None were in the healing phase, the documents said.
Byers and the child's mother said they brought the child to the hospital after the mother noticed that the baby was swaddled very tightly, and that the baby's legs appeared to be broken.
Byers later told the mother that he heard a popping sound from the child's hip on numerous occasions. The popping sound was much louder on the night of Dec. 17, 2014, the documents said.
Byers was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal abuse March 23. He pleaded not guilty and was released on a $14,000 property bond, and ordered to stay away from the child and the child's mother. Byers is scheduled to be arraigned in circuit court June 12.
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