A Pennsylvania couple has been charged with assault after bringing their 4-month-old son to a hospital with a split lip and “bruises and abrasions all over his body.”
Jessica Danielle Oster, 26, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of endangering the welfare of children, and single counts each of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person, according to the Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department.
Oster’s husband, 43-year-old James Lee Oster, aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children (2 counts), and recklessly endangering another person, police said.
Police said they were called to UPMC Lititz Hospital on April 22 by medical personnel, who described the baby’s injuries as “a lip laceration, ecchymosis, and laceration of the upper frenulum.” Ecchymosis is a large bruise, and the upper frenulum is a small piece of tissue that connects the lips and the gums inside the mouth.
Jessica Oster told detectives she had “used too much force placing a bottle into the baby’s mouth while he was crying.”
But medical personnel at the hospital also noted bruises on the boy’s forehead and the side of his head, LancasterOnline reports. The split lip took two stitches, and doctors said the baby could not have caused those injuries himself.
Jessica Oster said she put the bottle in the boy’s mouth and then walked away, returning 30 minutes later, when she noticed the injury to the lip, charging documents said. She also suggested that the bruises could have come from the baby’s bouncy seat, saying she and her husband often put him in the seat with a blanket while he’s being fed. She also said he’s often sleeping in the seat while they’re in another room.
A police officer noted that the bouncy seat smelled of urine, with a large urine stain soaked through to the bottom.
James Oster told detectives that the bruises came from his bathing the boy. He said he puts the child on his chest in the water and grabs his forehead to pull it back out of the water.
The Osters were freed last week after posting $75,000 bonds and are due in court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.
Police referred LancasterOnline to the county Children & Youth Agency when asked about who has custody of the children. The agency did not immediately return a phone call.
Featured image: James and Jessica Oster/Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department
