College Station babysitter suspected of seriously injuring 5-month-old child

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - A College Station woman is suspected of causing serious bodily injury to a child after investigators said she shook and threw a baby, less than a year old, against a wall.

The child is currently in critical condition at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Berta Evelin Lopez-Vasquez, 21, is being charged with serious bodily injury to a child.

College Station police said the child’s parents dropped them off with Lopez-Vasquez to watch while they were at work. According to the probable cause statement, Lopez-Vasquez first told authorities she tossed the child in the air several times to get it to stop continuously crying. She also claimed she accidentally dropped the child on her bedroom floor and failed to render aid once the baby started seizing and stopped breathing for about one minute.

Lopez-Vasquez refused to take the child to the hospital as she was not its mother, according to officials. She said she called the child’s parents and said they needed to pick the child up because they were not breathing. The parents took the child to St. Joseph Health College Station Hospital and doctors found fractures on the back of the child’s skull and brain damage, according to court documents. The child was then taken to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

According to court documents, medical staff at Texas Children’s found the child’s injuries were not accidental and were caused by severe blunt force trauma. Investigators with the Texas Department of Family Protective Services were assigned to the case and found Lopez-Vasquez got frustrated with the child after they would not stop crying. Lopez-Vasquez admitted to investigators she fed the child, changed their diaper and clothing, but they continued to cry.

Authorities said Lopez-Vasquez “lost it” and started shaking the child vigorously for five seconds and asked it to stop crying. Out of anger and frustration, police said Lopez-Vasquez threw the child with force into a wall about six to seven feet away. After the child fell to the ground, court documents said the child’s eyes rolled back and they started seizing and momentarily stopped breathing.

Lopez-Vasquez told investigators she called her husband instead of first responders because she was fearful of having her own children taken away.

Lopez-Vasquez remains in the Brazos County Detention Center with a bond of $200,000.