Bunker Hill man arrested after infant daughter injured

PERU — Police arrested a Bunker Hill man this week after they say his 5-month-old daughter sustained several internal injuries, including bleeding around the brain.

Gage Church, 22, is now facing charges of neglect resulting in catastrophic injury, a level 1 felony, neglect resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony, domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony, and possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor, for his alleged role in the investigation, according to court records.

Those charges stem from an investigation that began after authorities were called to Church’s residence — at Bunker Hill’s Estates at Eagle’s Pointe — on the morning of June 13, per court documents.

Investigators say Church contacted authorities that morning and stated his daughter fell off the bed and onto the floor. Court documents also indicated he told police he was the only person inside the residence when the alleged incident occurred.

Due to the infant’s injuries, the girl had to be airlifted from the scene to a Fort Wayne hospital before being flown to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis for further treatment, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

Her condition is unknown.

But while speaking with a pediatric surgeon at the hospital, investigators said they learned the infant had a “small right subdural hematoma,” described as a closed deep head wound with internal bleeding, the affidavit said.

Along with the hematoma, police also discovered the infant had a “sub-acute fracture” on one of her ribs, as well as multiple other hemorrhages throughout her head and eye area, court documents noted.

Investigators also spoke with the infant’s mother while at the hospital, and she reportedly stated that when she left for work that morning, the 5-month-old was “normal with no indication of injury.”

The woman also told authorities that Church contacted her shortly after 10 a.m. to say the infant “fell off the bed,” according to the affidavit.

But according to a report conducted by a doctor at Riley Children’s Hospital and highlighted in the affidavit, the infant’s injuries weren’t “consistent” with a short distance fall.

In the doctor’s report, which was also shared with investigators, she concluded that the girl’s injuries were a result of “rapid acceleration-deceleration forces with or without impact,” per court documents, and they were likely done with enough force that a “reasonable caregiver would recognize as causing harm.”

The doctor also stated in her report the infant’s rib fracture was a result of a “forceful compression of the chest” and in a stage of healing, indicating the injury occurred prior to June 13, court documents noted.

Church was booked into the Miami County Jail with a $100,000 surety bond, and he has an initial hearing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, via Zoom, in Miami Circuit Court.