5-month-old in critical condition after being thrown against wall by babysitter, police say

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX/Gray News) – A babysitter in Texas is accused of leaving a 5-month-old baby in critical condition after investigators say she threw the child against a wall.

Berta Evelin Lopez-Vasquez, 21, is charged with serious bodily injury to a child. The baby is in critical condition with a fractured skull and brain damage at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

Police said the parents dropped the child off with Lopez-Vasquez while they went to work. According to the probable cause statement obtained by KBTX, Lopez-Vasquez told authorities she tossed the child in the air several times to get it to stop crying. She also claimed she accidentally dropped the child on her bedroom floor and failed to render aid once the baby started seizing and stopped breathing for about one minute.

Lopez-Vasquez refused to take the child to the hospital as she was not its mother, according to officials. She said she called the child’s parents and said they needed to pick the child up because it was not breathing. The parents took the baby to the hospital, and doctors found fractures on the back of the child’s skull and brain damage, according to court documents.

According to court documents, medical staff found the child’s injuries were not accidental and were caused by severe blunt force trauma. Investigators with the Texas Department of Family Protective Services were assigned to the case and found Lopez-Vasquez got frustrated with the child after it would not stop crying. Lopez-Vasquez admitted to investigators she fed the child, changed its diaper and clothing, but it continued to cry.

Authorities said Lopez-Vasquez “lost it” and started shaking the child vigorously for five seconds and asked it to stop crying. Out of anger and frustration, police said Lopez-Vasquez threw the child with force into a wall about six to seven feet away. After the child fell to the ground, court documents said its eyes rolled back and it started seizing and momentarily stopped breathing.

Lopez-Vasquez told investigators she called her husband instead of first responders because she was fearful of having her own children taken away.

Lopez-Vasquez remains in the Brazos County Detention Center with a bond of $200,000.

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