Hearing waived in abuse case

SANDPOINT — A Clark Fork man accused of injuring an infant he was babysitting waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

In exchange for the waiver, Axel Roy Anderson was released on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to be arraigned on a felony count of injury to a child on June 20.

Anderson’s waiver meant that the state would not be compelled to demonstrate that it possesses enough evidence to warrant a trial in 1st District Court.

Anderson was arrested last month, after a 1-year-old girl he was looking after was taken to Bonner General Health with bruises to her arm and neck, court records indicate.

Anderson told the child’s mother that he was descending a flight of steps with the girl when she began to fall, according to a probable cause affidavit. Anderson told the mother that he grabbed collar of the child’s dress and pulled her back to keep her from falling.

A doctor at the BGH emergency room, however, said the dark bruising was inconsistent with Anderson’s explanation and consistent with abusively forceful grasping, court documents state.

Moreover, a deputy noted in an affidavit that there appeared to be a broken blood vessel in her left eye, also known as a subconjunctival hemorrhage. Such hemorrhaging in infants can be a sign of abuse.