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Daniel Kim accused of punching infant son hard enough to crack his skull

Every parent gets frustrated when a baby starts crying and won't stop. But 22-year-old Daniel Kim's alleged solution to this situation caused infinitely more problems for all concerned. He's accused of trying to silence his infant son by slugging him in the head hard enough to crack his skull...
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Every parent gets frustrated when a baby starts crying and won't stop. But 22-year-old Daniel Kim's alleged solution to this situation caused infinitely more problems for all concerned.

He's accused of trying to silence his infant son by slugging him in the head hard enough to crack his skull.

Just shy of 7 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day, a member of the Colorado Springs Police Department was phoned about the condition of Kim's two month old, Ezra -- but the person on the other end of the line was neither Daniel nor his mother, identified by the Colorado Springs Gazette as Brittany Johnson. Instead, the call came from a staffer at Memorial Hospital Central, who noted that Ezra had bruising to the head and face, apparent chest injuries and a likely skull fracture.

This information precipitated a CSPD trip to the Cottonwood apartment complex and a conversation with Kim. According to a police affidavit obtained by KRDO-TV, Kim's stories were initially inconsistent. But he eventually told investigators that after being awakened by Ezra's cries and failing to quiet him, he "snapped."

What's that mean? Kim allegedly said he slugged Ezra with "basically everything I could throw."

Unsurprisingly, this blow didn't hush the baby. Instead, the affidavit says, the crying lowered in pitch -- and suddenly, Ezra was having difficult moving his right arm.

Kim is said to have reacted to these symptoms by putting ice on the baby's head. But that wasn't nearly enough treatment. Upon Johnson's return to the home, the Gazette reports that she found a soft, flat area on Ezra's head -- and after consulting with her father over the phone, she rushed the baby to the hospital.

The next day, Kim was booked by the CSPD on the felony charge of child abuse causing serious bodily injury. Look below to see a larger version of Kim's booking photo.

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More from our Colorado Crimes archive: "Amanda Joliff, Richard Smith charged with child abuse & more for imprisoning her son."

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