Springdale father pleads guilty to battering infant

FAYETTEVILLE — A Springdale father pleaded guilty to battery in Washington County Circuit Court on Friday in connection with his 1-month-old baby suffering a skull fracture.

Anthony Wayne McKown, 31, was arrested June 19, 2016, after Northwest Medical Center-Springdale personnel determined the baby had a fracture on the left side of his skull and called police, according to an arrest report. A large bruise covered the left side of the baby’s face, and there was swelling to the back of his head.

McKown was sentenced to 20 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. McKown also was sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty to failure to register as a sex offender. The terms will run concurrently. McKown was given credit for

521 days of jail time served.

Medical personnel said the injury appeared to have been done minutes before arriving at the hospital, according to the report. The injury was consistent with blunt force trauma, according to the arrest report.

The child was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where reports noted the baby’s head had been propelled into something or struck by something with great force, and the child wouldn’t have survived without immediate medical care.

The baby’s mother left her son with his father while she was at work, according to the report. McKown was alone with the child before calling for help, according to the report.

McKown told police he picked up the baby from his parents’ house and took him to the motel room where he was living at Scottish Inns & Suites at 1219 S. Thompson St. McKown denied he injured the child.

McKown said he was feeding the baby when the child stopped breathing, according to the report.

McKown