Eagan Man Charged with Leaving Bruises on Baby's Face, Arm

An Eagan man has been charged with malicious punishment of a child and child neglect after police say he left bruises on a 10-week-old baby’s mouth, face and arm.

The charges against Isaial Demar Cook, 20, are gross misdemeanors, each with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, an Eagan woman brought her 10-week-old son to the hospital on March 16 after she had left the child in Cook's care that day while she went to work.

The woman told police that when she returned home at about 4 p.m., Cook had the sleeping child in a front baby pack, and that he told her the baby had been “whiny.”

When the woman looked at the child, she saw that his upper lip was black and blue and that he had bruises on his cheeks and on his left arm, along with marks on his neck.

When she asked Cook about the injuries, he told her he “didn’t mean to” and that he had been upset, according to the complaint. Cook said the marks on the baby’s arms happened when he was trying to hold the child down to give him medicine, and the marks on his face happened when he pinched the child’s face for the same purpose, the complaint says.

Cook told police later that it was only his third time watching the baby alone and the first time he had to give the child medicine. He said the baby woke up screaming, which frustrated him, and when he tried to squirt vitamin D into the child’s mouth, the baby continued to scream and knocked the syringe away from his face.

Cook said he grabbed the baby’s left arm and squeezed so he could administer the vitamin, and that he also remembered squeezing the baby’s mouth when he used a medicine dropper so he could give the child a medication to treat thrush, the complaint says.

Cook is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charges July 9 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.