Noble police officers and OSBI special agents arrested Melissa Dawn Clark, 45, the owner and operator of an in-home day care center Friday.
According to an OSBI affidavit, Noble police responded to a call of an unresponsive child July 19 at 505 Rolling Meadows Drive. The girl was transported to the Norman Regional Medical Center Emergency Room and then transported to Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa. The child arrived at the hospital without a pulse and was resuscitated. She died Sunday.
Clark told a Noble police detective that she made the initial call to police after she found the child limp and unresponsive. The child’s parents told an OSBI agent there was nothing wrong with the girl when they dropped her off at Clark’s at approximately 7 a.m.
According to the affidavit, at about 11:30 a.m., Clark said she went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee when she dropped the child on the ground. Clark noticed a small red mark on the back of the girl’s head, but she said there was no change in the child’s behavior. At about 1 p.m., Clark said she threw the child into a seat on the floor. When Clark threw her, the girl hit the bar on the seat and fell to the floor.
OSBI special agents interviewed the girl’s doctor, who confirmed the child's injuries were consistent with child abuse. The doctor said the child suffered from head trauma, brain-subdural hematoma and retinal hemorrhages, which was not explained by Clark.
The doctor said the child’s condition could have been a result of a "shaking component — thrusting of the head forward and backward with acceleration and deceleration, and due to the severity of the injuries the symptoms would have been immediate," the affidavit read.
According to the affidavit, approximately 20 minutes after Clark threw the child into the seat, she said she heard the girl sound like she was choking on fluids. When Clark rushed over and picked up the child, she noticed the girl was struggling to breathe. Clark said she performed CPR and checked to see if there was anything blocking the girl’s airway.
Clark said she "lost it" and threw the child. She said was stressed, according to the affidavit.
The Department of Human Services has shut down the day care. Clark was caring for five other children when the incident happened, according to the affidavit. Their ages ranged from 11 months to 5 years old. The case remains under investigation.
“We still have some interviews to conduct in the case,” OSBI public information director Jessica Brown said.
Oklahoma court records shows Clark has no previous criminal history.
From : http://www.normantranscript.com/news/oklahoma/woman-charged-in-baby-girl-s-death/article_1059156c-54c1-5bde-b305-81582cc8d81f.html
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