ROCKLAND — A Warren man remains in the Knox County Jail after he was arrested last week for allegedly causing injuries to a young child. The injuries were such, according to a Maine Medical Center doctor, that they could lead to developmental disabilities.

Joseph Emerson, 24, was arrested August 7 and charged with two counts of aggravated assault against an 18-month-old boy.

He appeared before Judge Susan Sparaco August 9. She set his bail at $50,000 cash.

According to the affidavit filed in Knox County Unified Court, Maine State Police Detective Scott Quintero received a report from Maine Medical Center that the injuries of a young child were not consistent with statements made by the mother about how the injuries occurred.

The mother told police that she had left the child with Emerson, her boyfriend, when she went to work on Saturday, August 5, the affidavit said. She said that when she came home, Emerson told her that the boy had fallen off a metal chair and struck his head on the tile floor, according to the affidavit.

Emerson told the mother that the boy’s eyes had rolled back into his head for a moment and then became normal. He said he then applied ice to the boy’s head to reduce the swelling and made sure he stayed awake to two hours.

The mother said that although she did not believe Emerson would become violent with the boy, she already had witnessed him squeezing the child hard around his ribs causing the man’s veins to bulge.

According to the affidavit, the mother called the boy’s father the following morning after the incident on August 5 to report that the child was not acting normal.

Physicians reported to police that the child had a skull fracture and a bruised brain, which they said will likely lead to developmental disabilities, according to the court document. 

The boy also had four broken ribs that were estimated to be one to two months old, and a lacerated liver.

When police interviewed Emerson, he initially confirmed that the child fell from the chair and then he said he had dropped the child. In his last statement to police, he said he threw the child off the bed because he hit him with a toy truck, according to the affidavit. 

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com