From a KFOX report: A Las Cruces man was arrested Sunday afternoon for allegedly killing his newborn son while drunk.
Joseph Parra, 31, was arrested just before 5 p.m. Sunday along the 8700 block of N. Valley Drive in Las Cruces, according to Dona Ana County magistrate court documents.
Court documents state that earlier in the day, Parra had called the child’s mother, explaining that their baby was not breathing.
When she asked if he had called 911, Parra reportedly said no.
Joseph Parra, 31, was arrested just before 5 p.m. Sunday along the 8700 block of N. Valley Drive in Las Cruces, according to Dona Ana County magistrate court documents. (credit: KFOX14/CBS4)
That’s when she called her brother asking that he tell their parents, and then called an ambulance, according to court documents.
Court documents state that the grandmother went to the home and found the baby lying face up in its crib with bruising to his chest and left eye.
The grandmother and grandfather proceeded to perform CPR on the baby, court documents describe.
However, anxious to get the child medical attention and worried that it might take the ambulance too long to arrive, the grandparents reportedly began driving the child “back towards the city,” court documents state.
They were ultimately met by Dona Ana Sheriff’s Office deputies along the 7400 block of N. Valley Drive in Las Cruces.
A deputy performed CPR on the baby until emergency medical services arrived, at which point he was taken to Mountain View Regional Medical Center and ultimately flown by helicopter to University Medical Center in El Paso.
According to court documents, Parra — who smelled of alcohol during his interview with the deputies — “repeated inconsistent statements” and was “unable to provide an appropriate timeline of events.”
Likewise, initially, he told deputies that he hadn’t drunk any alcohol before admitting he consumed “approximately two shots” of tequila around 10 am.
Meanwhile, the child’s mother told deputies that Parra’s drinking had “gotten out of control,” leading to domestic violence incidents, including an arrest two weeks prior.
Parra was booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Facility on a charge of abuse of a child resulting in death.