Friday, February 14, 2025

Man charged with felony child abuse after son, 4, airlifted to hospital with brain injury

Joshua Johnson
Joshua Lewis Johnson

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A local father faces a felony child abuse charge in connection with an assault on his 4-year-old son, who was taken to the hospital Saturday with a serious brain injury.

Joshua Lewis Johnson, 40, faces charges of assault inflicting serious injury, felony child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, child abuse/neglect resulting in serious bodily injury, and assault on a child under 12 years old, according to New  Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Lt. Jerry Brewer.

Deputies were called to New Hanover Regional Medical Center at about 3 p.m. Saturday, for a boy who was suffering from a fractured skull, scratches and bruising, Brewer said. In an investigation, detectives gathered information that led them to suspect the boy had been home all day with Johnson, his father.

“Johnson stated he was asleep and woke up to find his 4-year-old son unconscious,” Brewer said.

Johnson reportedly called his wife who was at work, Brewer said. The woman took her son to the emergency room at New Hanover. The child was immediately airlifted to North Carolina’s Children’s Hospital in Chapel Hill, where he remains in critical condition.

Jonson was arrested and booked at the New Hanover County Detention Facility under a $3 million secured bond.

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