Barbara Lynn Woody, 55, faces a felony count of injury to a minor child, which carries a penalty of zero to life in prison, or zero to one year in county jail and/or a $500 to $5,000 fine, court records state.
The baby's mother, Tonya Smith, 16, took the baby to the emergency room at Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in Sallisaw for redness to the left side of his jaw, temple, eye, and head. According to court records, Smith told hospital employees that the child was at the day-care center, Little Dumplin's in Sallisaw, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. When the baby's grandparents, Katherine Long and Gene Harmon, picked him up from the center, Woody told them that her two and a half year old deaf grandson had hit the baby in the face with a small car two times before she could stop him.
A hospital nurse said the redness was not consistent with the markings of a toy, and had a striped pattern of redness across his face, court records state.
According to court documents, Woody told police that the redness was from a handprint. She told police that the child was screaming and nothing she did would soothe him. At that time, she was watching five other children under the age of four, and she was trying to fix dinner, but the baby would not be quiet. Woody said she put a washcloth in the baby's mouth to quiet him and tried holding him, but he would not stop crying.
Woody then admitted to police that she placed her hand over his mouth for about two minutes until he quieted.
After she was placed under arrest and read Miranda rights, Woody told police that she probably did place her hand over his mouth too hard and used too much force. She also said that her grandson did hit the baby in the head with a toy car two times.
Woody was held in the Sallisaw City Jail until she posted a $10,000 bond and was released Wednesday.
Woody's day-care center was closed at the request of the Department of Human Services while the investigation continues.
