Father arrested in infant son's suspected beating death in Arlington

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, June 26, 2009
By STEVE THOMPSON / The Dallas Morning News
stevethompson@dallasnews.com

Arlington police arrested a father Wednesday in the death of his 4-month-old son – three months after the baby suffered a previous injury in which investigators considered the father a suspect.

Jason Antoine Farrington, 25, faces a charge of injury to a child with intent to cause serious bodily injury and was being held in the Arlington City Jail. He is from the Bahamas and is not allowed to post bail because of a federal immigration hold.

The boy, Jayden Farrington, suffered a skull fracture and abdominal injuries, police said.

Someone baby-sitting the child called 911 about noon Wednesday from an apartment in the 1500 block of Stoneleigh Court. The child was taken to Arlington Memorial Hospital, where he was stabilized and then taken to Cook Children's Medical Center. He died about 8 p.m.

On March 25, Arlington officers responded to an area hospital after Jayden suffered two skull fractures. Investigators determined that the injuries happened where the family lived in the 500 block of West Road to Six Flags.

Investigators considered Farrington a suspect in the March case but had yet to develop enough evidence to take him into custody, police said.

"It takes time to investigate and get the information together," said police spokeswoman Tiara Ellis Richard. "You have to gather all the medical information and medical evidence."

Since the investigation determined the mother was not responsible for the March injuries, Child Protective Services worked out an arrangement with her to bring the baby home from the hospital, agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said Thursday.

"She was cooperative with us, she was forthcoming with information, she passed a drug test, she had a clean CPS history, and she passed a criminal background check," Crimmins said. "So those were important to us.

"But probably most importantly, she agreed to reside away from the father," he said, "and she agreed that she wouldn't have any contact with the father and that she would be protective of the child."

Crimmins said CPS workers checked in with the mother from time to time, including one face-to-face meeting, and she assured them that she did not have contact with Farrington.

But police say Farrington was at the home Wednesday, and they are investigating whether he lived there.

CPS officials are conducting an internal review of how workers handled the case.

"This is obviously the worst possible outcome," Crimmins said, "so we want to take a look at what we've done."

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CBS reports that Farrington is a native of Barbados.