Havre man pleads to hitting 9-month-old

A Havre man pleaded guilty Thursday in District Court in Havre to hitting a 9-month-old and causing a hemorrhage in the infant’s left eye.

Bruce Collins, born in 1989, pleaded guilty to felony assault on a minor and is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 18.  

A registered nurse at Northern Montana Hospital called police Feb. 6 to report that a child had “suspicious bruising” and a hemorrhage on his face.

The responding officer noticed the bruising on the left side of the child’s face from his eye to his jawbone, a handprint on the left side of his face and bruising on the right side.

The nurses told the officer they were told the infant was with his mother’s boyfriend, Collins, when he climbed out of his crib, fell down and hit his face on the dresser handles on the way down.

The infant was discharged and an officer went to the home to photograph the room in which the injury happened. The officer observed that the handle on the dresser seemed to be consistent with the child’s injury on the right side of the face.

Officers responded to another call at the hospital some days later, regarding the same child. A representative of Child Protective Services had requested a follow-up emergency room visit which led to the child being taken to the hospital.

The infant had gone through imaging and the handprint on his face had become more defined.

“It looked like a finger, middle finger, and pointer finger with an impression of a palm,” documents say.

The officer set up an interview with the mother. The mother said that on the day of the injury she left for work early and received a call from Collins hours later telling her something was wrong with the child’s face. She said no one besides Collins took care of the child during that time, and watching the child is something he did regularly.

When interviewed by police, Collins said he didn’t know what happened to the infant’s face, but he thought he may have hit his face on the dresser.

The officer felt that because of the severity of his injuries, the infant didn’t just fall against the dresser.

“I have seen children (that) age fall against furniture and their injuries are not near as severe,” the officer said.