Inset: Juanisha Johnson (Alachua County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Florida hospital that Juanisha Johnson took her baby to (Google Maps).
A Florida mom brushed off her 2-month-old son's bloody mouth as the result of him scratching himself — even after being told he was losing "a lot of blood" and was acting strangely, cops say. The boy wound up having a traumatic brain injury, a brain bleed and broken ribs.
Juanisha Johnson, 24, was arrested early Wednesday after bringing her son to UF Health Shands in Gainesville on Oct. 4. She faces charges of child neglect with great bodily harm, child neglect without great bodily harm, attempting to tamper with evidence and resisting an officer without violence.
An arrest report obtained by the Alachua Chronicle accuses Johnson of neglecting her son and his 2-year-old sister, who also suffered a hematoma and a large, partially healed abrasion on her forehead and another abrasion on her left temple.
The son was intubated at the hospital and found to have a traumatic brain injury and brain bleed; the Chronicle reported Monday that he is in critical condition and may not survive. The boy also had broken ribs that appeared to be older injuries beginning to heal, doctors said.
A longtime friend of Johnson's called police around 9 a.m., roughly two hours after Johnson returned home from a night out, and said she believed Johnson was abusing the children. They had been staying together for roughly two weeks, cops say.
The friend told police she babysat the kids overnight and became alarmed when she noticed the infant's eyes were swollen and "a lot of blood" was coming from his mouth, according to the arrest report.
The baby was not eating, was acting distressed, couldn't sleep and kept crying, according to the friend. She FaceTimed Johnson around midnight and warned her about her son's condition, the arrest report says. Johnson allegedly did not seem concerned and did not want to seek medical treatment, telling the friend she did not want law enforcement or the Department of Children and Families involved, according to the arrest report.
When Johnson returned home around 7 a.m., she allegedly saw the infant's condition herself and left the residence with both children. She didn't take them to the hospital until hours later, police say.
During a police interview, Johnson allegedly admitted that her friend had told her about the baby's symptoms and that she had seen them herself. She also acknowledged the bleeding was "excessive," but claimed she thought it resulted from him scratching his own mouth.
Police say the amount of blood the boy lost was inconsistent with an infant accidentally scratching himself.
Johnson told investigators she could tell her son was in pain because he was making "squeaking" noises and behaving abnormally. He also had stopped eating despite normally having a large appetite, the Chronicle reports.
"I knew something was wrong," Johnson allegedly said.
She told police that her son's eyes were significantly swollen and that he did not look like himself because of the swelling, according to the arrest report. Yet Johnson did not immediately seek medical treatment for him, cops say.
Instead, she reportedly drove around Gainesville, stopped at her grandfather's house and then checked into a hotel with both children around 11 a.m., according to the arrest report. By then, the infant was twitching and his eyes were moving back and forth, police say.
Johnson allegedly described those symptoms as "notably concerning" and decided to take the child to a hospital around 1 p.m., the Chronicle reports.
"He having seizures," Johnson allegedly texted the friend. "And not waking up bruh."
The daughter, meanwhile, was repeatedly saying, "Ow!" as Johnson drove around, according to her statements to police. Johnson allegedly called a pediatrician who told her to take the infant to a hospital.
When asked about her daughter's injuries, Johnson claimed the 2-year-old had been struck by a plastic toy thrown by the friend's preschool-aged son, according to the arrest report. Police said the girl's injuries were significant and not consistent with being hit with such an object.
Johnson allegedly claimed her son had been seen by medical staff and X-rayed a week or two earlier, and he had no injuries then. She said the baby's broken ribs occurred while she was staying with the friend and acknowledged that only she and the friend supervised the children during that period.
Police concluded that the infant's injuries were "consistent with that of significant trauma and/or force" and involved numerous areas of his body, the Chronicle reports.
Johnson was being held this week on $145,000 bail.