CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WFLA) — Cape Coral police arrested a man Sunday for allegedly shaking and throwing his baby while the baby was crying, according to a probable cause statement.
The document states an officer was called after the child’s other parent was checking the baby monitor at around 10:15 a.m. when they saw their partner, 27-year-old Austin Meyers, pick up their 2-month-old, shake the baby, and throw the child on the couch. Meyers then yelled at the child, saying, “I’m not listening to you f—- cry anymore!”
Meyers was then seen walking into his bedroom to get his cellphone. The other parent, whose identity and gender was redacted from the report, did not want to call the police to avoid Meyers going to jail, but someone she spoke to about what happened called the authorities, the document says.
When the responding officer arrived, he found the baby lying there motionless but breathing. EMS personnel arrived and determined that there were no external signs of injury and that the baby seemed fine, but a later scan found that the baby suffered recent bucket handle fractures in their right leg, consistent with what would happen when shaking a baby.
The document goes on to say that the child’s parents were in a abusive relationship, with Meyers reportedly beating his partner during their pregnancy.
The partner said they were checking the baby monitor since she did not trust him around the baby since he was violent. The document states that the baby was rarely left alone with their father, but Meyers, a registered sex offender, was stuck at home under in-home detention with an ankle monitor until December 2025.
The report states when Meyers was questioned by police, he denied ever shaking the baby and said he laid the child in a crib, saying, “I would never hurt my baby.”
Meyer faces charges for cruelty toward child (aggravated child abuse) and aggravated battery for the alleged abuse police say he inflicted on his pregnant partner.
