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Written by K Bishop
Published September 28, 2022 @ 2:08 PM ET
WARNING: The following report contains information regarding violence against children
Liberty County – Nurses at Memorial Hospital in Savannah called police after an infant arrived, via ambulance, from Winn Army Hospital with serious injuries. The infant’s father was arrested.
James Calvin Jeffress, an active duty soldier, living in Midway, was charged with two counts of ‘Cruelty to Children.’
Jeffress claimed that he “playfully shook the baby” during the night, while bonding with infant. Jeffress and the infant’s mother claimed they noticed the child wasn’t eating or laughing, so they decided to take him to the hospital.
The two-month-old suffered a brain bleed and multiple fractures in his torso along with a femur injury.
Military police and the Division of Family and Children Services were notified of Jeffress’ arrest.
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the officer’s narrative report. We do not fix any spelling or grammatical errors. Any changes made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist.]
On Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at 1530 hours, I was dispatched to Memorial Hospital in Savannah, Georgia in reference to a child abuse case. I placed the hospital nurse a phone call where I made contact with the complainant, Nurse [WITNESS #1].
Nurse [WITNESS #1] advised me a 2 month old juvenile came in with injuries consisting of brain bleeding, left shoulder fracture, rib fracture, and a femur injury. She advised me the parents of the child were James Jeffress and [REDACTED]. She stated Mr. Jeffress advised he was bonding with the child the night prior, while Mrs. [REDACTED] slept. He stated he gently shook the baby to play with it. Around midnight, both parents noticed the child was not acting right as he would not eat nor laugh. They took the baby to Winn Army Hospital at this time.
Nurse [WITNESS #1] advised me she was unsure what time the child was transferred to them by ambulance, but observed a physical was completed around 0500 hours. She advised me she contacted DFCS and the Military Police as Mr. Jeffress was active duty. The address listed for the child was [200 BLOCK] Sycamore Way in Midway, Georgia.
I had the on call detective place me a phone call where Detective Mapp was notified of the incident. The case was turned over to him. Nurse [WITNESS #1] was give a case number via telephone.
[End of Narrative]