A Greenbrier man accused of battering a 4-month-old infant known to him pleaded guilty to first-degree battery Wednesday in Faulkner County Circuit Court.
Zachary Freeman, 28, was arrested Mar. 29, 2011 after the baby sustained “massive head injuries,” according to a report by investigators, including skull fractures, bleeding from both sides of the brain and retinal hemmorhaging. The baby was medflighted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Following the incident, investigators noted that Freeman was “highly intoxicated,” with poor balance and slurred speech.
He reportedly gave a statement to police, saying he was holding the child and dropped it between a changing table and a chair.
According to an interview with a representative of Counseling Associates in Aug. 2011, Freeman acknowledged his abuse of alcohol was a “significant factor.”
During the same interview, he declined to offer his version of events, but said the incident “should have never happened.”
Freeman was sentenced to 27 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
(Megan Reynolds is a staff writer and can be reached by phone at 501-505-1277 or by e-mail at megan.reynolds@thecabin.net. Visit us online at www.thecabin.net.)
Comments (11)
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Alcohol good.
Guns bad.
Wrong
If only that baby had a gun it could have protected itself.
(Spoken as a very poorly impersonated Vader)
The sarcasm is strong with this one.
Hopefully
no entitlements go to that baby's care now. Paul Ryan would weep.
/rant
Hope all the best for recovery and chance at a normal life.
agreed
Entitlements should go to people that are capable of working for themselves, not the ones that truly need it.
This child needs an Obama phone and 99 weeks unemployment.
/rant
wow what a real man beating
wow what a real man beating on a 4 month old. Hope some bubba's prison treat him the same way.
Of course now waiting on the family to come on and say he is a good person and made a mistake and had a tough upbringing and it is all genetics
well
From what I read, he didn't BEAT the baby, per se, but was so filtered-word drunk he dropped it, resulting in serious/critical injury.
Thus my alcohol comment.
I do hope the child recovers well and never has to deal with this man's 'care' again.
Nope!
You can fall on or drop an infant (hitting baby's head on table, chair and floor) and not do the damage that was done to this child! This would've been testified to, in court, had this gone to trial, hence the 'nolo contendre/guilty' plea by Freeman. Poor baby is in DHS custody because of his physical impairments and the inability of parental care! Freeman should've been given life, as that's what he gave his son, a prisoner of his own little body! A defenseless child suffered that night and is still...........
However, 27 years is a long time to come to terms with your abusive and selfish ways, and at least he won't be able to harm another infant ever!
Which brings me to a suggestion; Arkansas needs a Registry of Child Abusers just like the Registered Sex Offenders List! Let's write our Senators and Representatives, please won't you all?
you could contact Senator
you could contact Senator Rapert but apparently he is to busy trying to find ways to arrest doctors who perform abortions. Guess we see his priorities.
Such great logic SWIBC...
...let's protect all children from abuse by killing them before they're born.