Las Vegas police arrest man in death of girlfriend’s 1-year-old son
Las Vegas police on Wednesday arrested a Georgia man suspected in the death of his girlfriend’s 1-year-old son.
Antonio Bridges, 34, is facing one count each of first-degree murder and child abuse or neglect resulting in substantial bodily harm in the death of Mark Phillips Jr., who died Sunday of multiple blunt force injuries at University Medical Center. The baby’s death has been ruled a homicide by the Clark County coroner’s office.
Bridges had recently moved from Georgia to Las Vegas, according to police.
Mark was hospitalized three days earlier on April 12 with critical injuries. It wasn’t known where the alleged beating had happened, but police said Mark was under Bridges’ sole care while his mother was being treated at UMC for unrelated medical reasons.
Bridges tried to leave the hospital after dropping off the unresponsive boy, but he was stopped by a Metropolitan Police Department traffic officer who was at the medical center for an unrelated call.
When Bridges was detained, according to police spokeswoman Laura Meltzer, the suspect gave the officer a fake name.
“But the officer figured out who he was,” Meltzer said.
A records check revealed that Bridges had a fugitive warrant out for his arrest from Georgia. It wasn’t immediately clear what charges he was facing.
Police booked Bridges into the Clark County Detention Center the same day, but he was later released from custody after law enforcement in Georgia declined to extradite him.
Three days after the 1-year-old died from his injuries, Bridges was again taken into custody at the medical center.
No other details were available Friday as Bridges’ arrest report had not been released.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday morning, jail records show.
The baby’s death marked the 69th homicide in Clark County this year, and the fifth child death investigated by Metro, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal records.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
