Young Stephens County dad accused of breaking 3-month-old’s arm

DUNCAN — A $150,000 bond was issued for a 20-year-old Marlow father accused of breaking his 3-month-old son’s arm.

Mekhi Zane Warner made his initial appearance Monday in Stephens County District Court where he received a felony charge of child abuse, records indicate. The crime is punishable by up to life in prison.

Investigators were notified shortly after noon June 23 of a 3-month-old child at Duncan Regional Hospital with a broken arm. The child was transferred to OU Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City.

The emergency room doctor who treated the boy told investigators the infant suffered a spiral fracture to his right arm and that a pair of ribs showed they were broken previously but had since healed, the probable cause affidavit states. He said the injury took a “strong amount of force” and was consistent with child abuse.

Investigators spoke with Warner and the child’s mother. The mother said they’d been in bed with the child in the crib next to them. After being asleep about 20 minutes, she said, his pacifier had come out of his mouth and he began to cry. According to the affidavit, she said Warner had reached in to put the pacifier back and pushed the child’s arm away from his face before yelling, “Oh (expletive), I think I broke his arm.”

Warner told investigators a similar story and that he’d “barely touched his arm” when swiping it away, the affidavit states. After being told the doctor’s diagnosis and being asked if he could have pushed the child’s arm away harder than he thought, he agreed it was possible but he doesn’t remember because he was half asleep, Stephens County Sheriff’s Investigator Daniel Picazo stated.

Ordered to have no contact with the child or witness, Warner returns to court at 9 a.m. Sept. 13 for his preliminary hearing conference, records indicate.