Father arrested at hospital on child abuse charge

A doctor at Desert View Hospital suspected something was not right when a two-month-old infant arrived in the emergency room with a broken femur in the early hours of Oct. 25.

Following his initial exam of the infant, the doctor called the Nye County Sheriff's Office to report a suspected case of child abuse.

As a result, the infant's father was arrested on those charges.

According to the arrest report, deputies arrived at the hospital and spoke to the parents of the child.

"We received information the father, identified as Michael Haver, was becoming irate," the report stated. "The doctor stated the victim had a broken femur and suspected child abuse."

While speaking to deputies, the report stated Haver was changing the child's diaper when he heard a "pop."

"He kept telling deputies he was very sorry repeatedly," the report noted. "He also said it was an accident after being told the victim had a broken femur. I spoke with the mother, who stated the victim was fine when she was put down to sleep and she also stated that Michael had got up during the night with the victim."

After further questioning, Haver was arrested and transported to the Nye County Detention Center on child abuse charges.

Haver made his initial court appearance on Monday where he appeared before Judge Margaret Whitaker.

Local resident Richard Goldstein was inside the courtroom and said Whitaker revoked Haver's bond.

"He had a $200,000 bond and the judge yanked it and held him on no bail," Goldstein said. "You could tell he was scared to death, and when the judge asked him questions, and you could barely hear his response. It's just mind-boggling that he could do what he was charged with."

Goldstein also said there was a very heavy presence of law enforcement officials at the hearing.

"There was a lot of people from the organization called Bikers Against Child Abuse," he said. "They had five or six sheriff's deputies in there as well as the SWAT team. There was something posted on social media about it when he got arrested. I guess they thought there was going to be some sort of a problem."

Haver's next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. Find him on Twitter: @sharrispvt