Father accused of causing son's fractures

A Carson City man was jailed Wednesday afternoon after doctors said his 9-week-old son had old and new fractures to his skull, arm, leg and ribs.

Danny Maxfield Jr., 32, was booked into the Carson City Jail on suspicion of felony child abuse with substantial bodily harm.

According to Sheriff's Detective Dave Le Gros, the child was taken to the emergency room at 12:30 a.m. April 18 after he coughed up blood.

Doctors discovered the boy was suffering from a broken right arm and old fractures to his right leg, skull and ribs, said Le Gros.

"The arm fracture was the freshest of them all," Le Gros said.

According to the arrest report, the physician at the hospital said there was "no way these injuries could have happened by accident."

During an interview with investigators on Monday, and a second interview on Wednesday in which he demonstrated on a doll, Maxfield allegedly said that he had lifted the baby by one arm because it was crying.

"He basically said that one night the baby was crying," Le Gros said. "He said it wasn't his night to watch the child and he tried to wake the mother but couldn't. So he just got aggravated, grabbed the baby by one arm and lifted him to eye level."

"That incident would cause the arm to break, in the opinion of hospital staff," Le Gros said.

Maxfield also allegedly said the rib fractures could have happened in March when he and his girlfriend were fighting and he was holding the baby tightly.

Maxfield denied knowing anything about the leg fracture, according to Le Gros.

Le Gros said the child has been released from the hospital and is in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Maxfield is being held on $20,000 bail.