Gainesville mom arrested after child suffers head injury
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Caitlin Ann Maloney, 37, was arrested yesterday for allegedly knocking over her daughter’s stroller, causing a head injury, while she was intoxicated.
The responding Gainesville Police Department officer reported that Maloney took her 10-month-old child for a walk at about 9 p.m. on June 16; Maloney allegedly consumed alcohol before the walk and consumed more alcohol at dinner at their destination, and on the way home, she was stumbling and losing her balance. In front of her apartment building at an undisclosed location, Maloney reportedly stumbled and fell; the child’s stroller also fell over, and the child hit her head.
A neighbor saw the fall and ran outside to help Maloney and her child. The neighbor reportedly gave the officer a video that showed Maloney stumbling, losing her balance, and knocking the stroller over when she grabbed it to regain her balance. The stroller reportedly fell onto its side on the shoulder of the road, and it was quickly retrieved by people in the area before any vehicles approached.
A second neighbor reportedly offered to help Maloney get back up to her third-floor apartment, and Maloney let the neighbor carry the child; the neighbor ended up bringing Maloney back to the first neighbor’s apartment so she could clean up the child and get them water and dry clothes. At the second neighbor’s apartment, Maloney reportedly got frustrated and demanded that the neighbor give her child back, but the neighbor refused because of Maloney’s level of intoxication.
The second neighbor reportedly told the officer she could smell alcohol on Maloney’s breath and Maloney was unsteady on her feet and had slurred speech. She said she could not in good conscience return the child to Maloney while she was in that state.
Post Miranda, Maloney reportedly admitted that she had been drinking alcohol before and during dinner. She said she fell while going down the stairs in front of the apartment building, in spite of the video that showed her falling on a level concrete sidewalk in front of the complex. Maloney also reportedly said that the child’s head injury happened in her apartment, but she did not say how it happened.
The officer noted that Maloney smelled like alcohol, her eyes were glossy, and she was having a hard time focusing on his questions. She reportedly had trouble remembering certain events and repeated herself.
The child reportedly had a swollen bruise on her forehead and was transported to a local hospital.
Maloney has been charged with child neglect without great bodily harm. She has no local criminal history, and Senior Judge Aymer Curtin ordered her released on her own recognizance.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.