Dad accused of breaking legs, ribs of 6-month-old for being ‘fussy,’ Kentucky cops say

A father allegedly admitted to repeatedly harming his infant child who suffered multiple broken bones, Kentucky police say.

The 6-month-old child had a broken right lower leg, broken left tibia and fibula, broken right humerus and three broken ribs, police in Elizabethtown say.

His father 26-year-old Scott Gudgel was charged with first-degree criminal abuse after he said he “lost control of his actions on several occasions,” police wrote in an arrest citation.

The boy’s condition was brought to the attention of police March 3, an arrest citation states. He was at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, where he was being treated for “several broken bones.”

The father initially said he squeezed his son too hard, resulting in his most recent injury — swelling in his right ankle area, police say.

Gudgel was questioned about his son’s injuries and allegedly admitted to his involvement in several other harmful acts over the course of several months.

Gudgel said he was watching his son Wednesday and “he began to get fussy.” The father then picked up his son and dropped him onto the floor, causing him to cry hard for several minutes, according to police.

Two to three weeks prior, Gudgel allegedly broke the child’s tibia and fibula when he twisted his leg “because he was fussy,” police say. In a previous instance, the father pulled his son’s arm, which broke the boy’s humerus bone, police say.

Gudgel caused the broken ribs in the boy when he squeezed his son around his chest, according to police.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning.

The boy’s mother took him to the hospital, but isn’t “considered complicit in any way,” police told The News Enterprise.

This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 12:36 PM.