(Charter Oak, Iowa) – A man and woman from Crawford County are facing Child Endangerment – resulting in serious injury charges, after an infant was severely harmed allegedly due to the delayed response in seeking medical attention following an incident of neglect. Our sister station KDSN in Denison reports court records reveal that on the day of the injury, 23-year-old Chad Gibbs, of Charter Oak, was holding his infant when he fell down a set of stairs, causing the baby’s head to strike a door frame.

Additionally, Gibbs allegedly dropped the infant from a height of approximately three to four feet. Despite the baby’s visible distress, Gibbs did not seek medical help until several hours later, when the baby lost her pulse. At that point, emergency responders were contacted.

Sarah Lembke and Chad Gibbs (booking photo)

The baby’s mother, 22-year-old Sarah Lembke, also from Charter Oak, reportedly failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation. Although she admitted that the baby had been crying incessantly for five hours and had developed a bruise on her face, Lembke did not suspect that Gibbs might have been responsible for the injury. Court documents also note that Gibbs had a previous history of causing harm to Lembke’s children.

Chad Gibbs has admitted to having caused earlier harm to the infant, stating that six days prior to this incident, he had accidentally elbowed the baby and, frustrated by the baby’s crying, had squeezed her tightly to his chest.