Inset: Jaylen Walker (Guilford County Jail). Background: The North Carolina apartment building where police found Jaylen Walker's 7-week-old son with severe burns from "hot water" (WGHP/YouTube).
A North Carolina father burned his 7-week-old baby with hot bath water, resulting in the "peeling of skin on all limbs, torso, back and buttocks," according to police. He allegedly refused to get the child help and dropped him off with the boy's grandparents, then went to a local grocery store.
Jaylen Walker, 22, of Greensboro, is facing a felony child abuse charge over what police say happened to his son Wednesday, when the infant suffered second- and third-degree "burns" to his body "from hot water," according to court documents.
"On or about the date of offense shown and in the county named above the defendant unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did intentionally inflict serious bodily injury … on [the child]," an arrest warrant states. "The defendant was the child's parent."
Walker, who was denied bond on Friday during his first court appearance, allegedly called his son's grandparents Wednesday instead of 911 and told them he burned the boy while giving him a bath. Prosecutors said Walker told them he tried to apply Vaseline to the child's body and his skin kept peeling away, according to local Fox affiliate WGHP.
"[Walker] dropped child off with grandparents," prosecutors said, according to a release order issued Friday.
The child's mother, who was at work, allegedly learned about the burns from Walker and urged him to get emergency help, according to prosecutors.
"She was in constant contact with the father, advising him he needed to call 911 and that she was on her way," a prosecutor said during Walker's Friday court appearance, according to WGHP.
It was the child's mother who ultimately called 911 herself, according to prosecutors. Greensboro police and emergency crews were dispatched to apartments in the 400 block of Avalon Road shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a report of a burned child. EMS personnel were already at the scene when officers arrived.
The baby was taken to the hospital, where doctors allegedly discovered healing rib fractures in addition to the burns.
Prosecutors said Walker could not be located for hours after the incident. He was eventually found at a local grocery store and taken into custody around 1 a.m. Thursday.
Walker's defense argued that he had no criminal record and that nothing clearly showed he intentionally inflicted the infant's injuries. He's due back in court on Nov. 25.