Cop Dad Accused of Shoving Pacifier Down 6-Month-Old’s Throat

Hey there, I'm officer Cameron Coronado. with the city of Portage Police. Department. I am badge number four and I. am currently a night shift officer for. our department. >> That is Wisconsin police officer Cameron. Coronado. But now, instead of protecting. the community, he is accused of a crime. so disturbing it's almost unthinkable. Prosecutors say he shoved a pacifier. down his six-month-old son's throat with. such force it caused bleeding on the. infant's brain. How could this happen? We're going to break down the chilling. details laid out in a criminal complaint. and the potential warning signs that.

investigators say may have been there. before and we are going to get expert. insight on what this case reveals from a. retired police commander. Welcome to. Sidebar presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. This is an incredibly disturbing case. out of Portage, Wisconsin that we're. going to be bringing to you. A. 32-year-old police officer, Cameron. Coronado, is accused of essentially the. unthinkable. Prosecutors say he forced a.

pacifier down his six-month-old son's. throat with such force that it lacerated. the back of the infant's throat and. caused a brain bleed. He's now charged. with felony child abuse and related. offenses. And even more chilling, his. wife, who cited in the criminal. complaint, apparently told investigators. this wasn't the first troubling. incident. Now, we're going to get to. what that could mean for the case, but. first we got to go through this step by. step through what investigators say. happened. Again, according to the. complaint. So, according to this. criminal complaint that was reviewed by.

local affiliates WISC, WMTV, and WKBT, this incident happened. in the early morning hours of August. 16th at around 3:00 a.m. inside of. Coronado's home. Now, his wife. apparently told investigators that their. baby had become fussy. So, Coronado took. the child into the kitchen. Moments. later, she claims she heard him snap, followed by an outburst where he. reportedly said these words, "Oh my god, shut the bleep up." Right after that, she says she noticed the baby's cry.

suddenly changed. And when she rushed. into the kitchen, she said she saw. Coronado wiping blood from the infant's. mouth. And when she demanded to know. what happened, she told police that. Coronado admitted he had shoved the. pacifier into the baby's throat and that. the child was bleeding and he couldn't. get it to stop. Now, shockingly, despite. what the baby had allegedly endured, his. wife told police that this six-month-old. actually was able to calm down for a few. minutes, fall asleep. That didn't last. long because he soon woke up crying in.

pain, struggled to swallow, refusing to. eat. Again, this is the narrative. It. was at this point that his mother claims. she insisted they take him to the. hospital. However, Coronado's wife told. investigators that he initially resisted. taking the baby to the hospital, reportedly saying he knew what was going. to happen if they sought medical help. So, despite his alleged opposition, she. didn't listen. She ultimately took their. child in for treatment. And according to. the criminal complaint, doctors found a. cut at the back of the baby's throat,

layers of skin scraped away by what they. described as quote, "Something of force, and maybe most alarmingly, a CT scan.". There was a CT scan that revealed. bleeding on the infant's brain. Medical. staff, they even noted that there were. other injuries consistent with blunt. force trauma. It's a horrible story. There's no other way to really explain. it, but it is definitely one that we. wanted to bring to you. And the reason. we can do that is because of the amazing. support that we get from our sponsor,

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description to download Upside or scan. the QR code on screen, but make sure to. use our promo code Sidebar because. you'll get an extra 25 cents back on. every gallon on your first tank of gas. Now, court records indicate that an. arrest warrant was issued for Coronado. on August 18th. He was booked into the. Saw County Jail charged with felony. child abuse. that's for intentionally. causing harm to a child along with. disorderly conduct which had a domestic. abuse modifier attached to it. So, let. me actually go into a little bit of the. legal analysis here about what those. charges mean as they pertain to.

Wisconsin state law. So, child abuse. intentionally causing bodily harm comes. from a specific Wisconsin statute. It is. a class H felony. And for prosecutors to. prove that charge, it seems they need to. prove three things. One, that the victim. was a child under 18. two, that the. defendant caused bodily harm, which in. Wisconsin is defined as physical pain or. injury, illness, or any impairment of. physical condition. And three, that he. did this purposely. Punishment for a. class H felony, when we looked it up, up.

to six years in prison and a fine of up. to $10,000. Disorderly conduct with a. domestic abuse modifier. That comes from. another specific Wisconsin statute. It. is a class B misdemeanor and proving. that charge means the state has to show. Coronado engaged in in this case violent. conduct that caused a disturbance. It's. punishable by up to 90 days in jail and. $1,000 fine. Now, as disturbing as all. of this is, according to the criminal. complaint, this wasn't even the first. troubling incident. We'll get to that in.

a minute. But first, to help me break. all this down, I want to bring on a. special guest. I want to bring on. retired police commander and host of. Profiling Evil, author of Wolves in. Sheep's Clothing, Mike King. Mike, I. mean, your title to your book, These. Allegations Are True, how fitting is it. in your experience, have you ever seen a. law enforcement officer be accused of. crimes against their own children? Jesse, I can't think of a case that I.

know of that mirrors this, although it. it makes perfect sense that it would. have happened in the profession. somewhere. Uh, I mean, sadly, parents. reach a tipping point at times. This is. a little this is a little concerning, though, because I want I wonder about. the repetitive kinds of events that. we're hearing about. Well, if you're. investigating a member of law. enforcement, how does that complicate. the investigation? >> Well, I think I think there's a couple.

of things that that number one I was the. most concerned about when I read this. and there's pretty limited information. out there, although you laid this thing. out beautifully. Number one is when we. see the actual evidence of what the. degree of injury was to the child, and I. am in no way minimizing this. I read run. report that said one layer of skin. I I. don't know what that means, Jesse, but. in the back of the throat, I can't. imagine that there's a whole lot of. layers of skin and enough that they. couldn't stop the bleeding initially.

So, I don't know if law enforcement. collected the wipes that were in the. house when they went and hopefully. served a search warrant to get an. indication of how much blood the baby. lost, how significant that was. The idea. that he shoved the pacifier down the. throat of the child is really troubling. And you can kind of see this frustration. building with the comments that were. apparently made and then this physical. act. You know, the thing that's really. troubling me the most is that reported.

brain bleed. And how on earth shoving a. pacifier down the throat would cause a. brain bleed. Yeah. And I'm I'm having. kind of flashbacks, Jesse, to a a. homicide case that I uh investigated. where I got a confession out of the. father. I heard this testimony of. squeezing another child and I can. envision this this interview that I. recorded where the father told me about. squeezing the child and he's making this.

motion which is just so troubling and. and so frustrating. Then this violent. movement back and forth and I'm. wondering if that's actually what's. caused the brain bleed is something. called contrau. I've heard of that. before, too. Unfortunately, in a lot of. uh child abuse cases, by the way, the. the wife's account, right, the mother in. this case, you know, it gets complicated. from a legal point of view when you talk. about spousal privilege and whether or. not she can testify against her spouse,

but but it seems like a lot of this is. based on her account. Um, what do you. what do you make of that? And how. important is her role in proving what. happened here? Well, I think this the idea of domestic. violence in the home is is really. terrifying because there's an emotional. thing that the victims of spousal abuse, if there was any, or at least witnessing. it with their children, there's this. wacky kind of an environment that these. families get in where they keep hoping.

things will get better. And she's laying. out that there is some past behaviors. that were predictive of this thing. happening. And that's troubling that. something wasn't done sooner knowing. that this individual, if all of this is. true, is starting to get more and more. on edge and more and more volatile, especially making verbal kinds of. threats and then eventually acting it. out. I think there's going to need to be. a serious discussion about how much the. mother knew, whether she felt the.

confidence to step forward, whether she. was being traumatized in any way, or she. thought it would just get better. But. I'm also wondering about the police. department, Jesse. >> Well, let me talk about things. >> Let me talk about that because first of. all, you know, people might say a. conflict of interest. It's being. reported that a special prosecutor was. appointed to the case. The Portage. Police Chief, Keith Klafky, said it was. the Saw County Sheriff's Office that's. handling the investigation, which would. be appropriate, right? Because you need. you can't have this police officer's own.

department investigating him. I mean, maybe you could in a certain. circumstances, but for this one, they're. trying to avoid any appearance of a. conflict of interest or anything like. that. >> Yeah, I think they're doing it right. And that's the protocol. A local police. department would usually look toward the. county sheriff. If they felt like there. was a conflict, it then might go up to a. district attorney's office investigator. to look at or ultimately the attorney. general and of course moving it up from. there. So, I think they're doing the. right thing and it just takes away the. optics of any kind of home cooking in.

what decisions might be made. >> You mentioned red flags. So, is there an. investigation into his colleagues, the. people that knew him, the people worked. him? Have you ever seen anything like. this? Did was he at the breaking point? Have you observed maybe in cases that he. worked on where he got violent? How. expansive can that investigation be to. try to see if there were any kind of. warning signs? Again, assuming he did. this? Yeah, hopefully the investigators. that are handling this case will look. and see and petition personnel records.

to see if there were uh use of force. issues coming up or or concerns that the. police department had that this officer. was reaching an a boiling point or over. boiling. And those are always concerns. because police officers are put in these. really tough situations every single. day. And there needs to be better. mechanisms in place to evaluate. And. that usually falls on like the local. supervisor, the the patrol shift. sergeant or whoever they report to to. say, "Hey, I think we're having a.

problem developing here." Some agencies. have actually gone to the point that. they've put in some safety measures. where they say, "Hey, if there are two. use of force incidents in a certain. amount of time, we're going to get this. person in for psychological counseling. or something like that." And again, gosh, at 3:00 in the morning, it wasn't. that this guy's working graveyards and. this is happening in the middle of the. day. I guess we've all been parents with. with fussy kids. So, it's just. troubling. >> Now, as I mentioned before, this. criminal complaint outlines something.

else. It outlines other troubling. alleged incidents that Coronado's wife. reported to police, and they are deeply. disturbing. So, according to the. complaint, she apparently told. detectives that Coronado had a quote low. frustration tolerance with children. She. said he once squeezed his daughter too. hard and even punched a hole in a wall. But maybe the most chilling detail comes. from an incident that she described on. July 19th. Coronado allegedly became so.

enraged because the children wouldn't. settle down for bedtime. And she. recalled a terrifying threat that he. supposedly made, saying, "I'll kill. these bleeping kids if their baby didn't. stop crying." Mike, what do you make of. that? I mean, how does that alleged. threat here? I'll kill these kids. I. mean, I don't know how you prove that. other than I don't know, talking to the. wife, maybe the children. I don't know. How does that impact investigators and. how they approach this case? >> Yeah. Uh uh this is so troubling because.

it is kind of a precipitating stressor. or or an event that really makes you. worry about not only going through that. discussion and fantasy phase, but then. finally acting it out or saying it. enough times that acting it out makes. sense to somebody. I suspect that if. he's made those comments at home, he. probably has made them to other police. officers or other people and that may. all come back to really play into this. case to show that this wasn't just an. accidental momentary snap where uh.

something went wrong. Again, it's so. hard. They're going to need to really. figure out the stressors that were going. on in the relationship, in the family, in his job, but none of it justifies. abuse. And another aspect in this case that. makes it even more jarring is that. Coronado had been publicly profiled just. months earlier in an officer showcase. video that was posted to the Portage. Police Facebook page. And in it, he. introduced himself to the community. He.

talked about his role as a training. officer. He even shared his background. in criminal justice and emergency. medical services. Hey there, I'm Officer. Cameron Cornado with the City of Portage. Police Department. I am badge number. four and I am currently a night shift. officer for our department. You probably. don't see me very often. I've been with. the department for approximately 3. years. Um, and I'm currently one of the. training officers for the city as well. Prior to my career in law enforcement, I. did attend uh W Barous County where I. received a associates degree um just in.

general education. I then attended uh W. Whitewater where I received a bachelor's. degree in sociology with an emphasis in. criminal justice. Um, I've also attended. a police academy through Western. Technical College up in Sparta, Wisconsin. And I am also a licensed EMT. in the state of Wisconsin and have been. for approximately 4 years. Um, coming to. the city, I'm not actually from here. I'm actually up from Juno County. Uh, I. came down here cuz my wife was actually. working in the city already as a social.

worker. Uh, but over time, I've. generally grown to enjoy the community. more and more. Everyone's been very. inviting and I've gained a lot of. experience here in the city. So, thank. you so much for your time and stay safe. out there. >> You know, Mike, look, these are. allegations, right? He's innocent until. proven guilty, but from your. perspective, how does it affect the. community when you have an officer who's. been publicly showcased and now is not. accused of a speeding ticket, he's. accused of a serious crime of child.

abuse. H how does this affect the. community? Well, I think the communities already. across the nation are concerned about. law enforcement and there's there's been. kind of a rising tide in the last 10. years of really allegations. You know, it really goes back to also looking at. the employment process and what kind of. testing is going on in the employment. process. Is there mental health. evaluations going on during the process. and what stressors are happening on the.

job? It is a really challenging problem. for the good cops when somebody does. something like this because 99% of them. and some people may argue that number. I. would say 99.9%. of police officers are doing the job and. doing it right. But boy, when cases like. this happen or other cases that we've. heard about recently in the news where. law enforcement ethics have really come. into question, it really becomes. challenging for the entire profession. and the public who needs to trust that.

the person showing up is filled with. integrity and goodwill. >> Should there be an internal. investigation? Is it conducted by. internal affairs? Do they go everything. through his hiring process, his record? I mean, you know, I we say this in many. times in cases involving educators, teachers who are accused of abusing. children. How were they hired? Why were. they hired? Um, hindsight's 2020. Maybe. it's impossible to know or predict how. people might behave. Things can change, but the question becomes, should that be.

examined? Should there be an internal. review? You you know I in many departments that. will happen naturally because the. department wants to know how can I. prevent this in the future. Some. departments may choose not to stick. their head in the sand and hope that the. problem eventually goes away. The. investigation hopefully will look into. some of those things. But to me, Jesse, the problem is is much broader than. that. It's the fact that we're seeing a.

downturn in law enforcement numbers. across the country. I think in part it's. because of the scrutiny that's fallen on. law enforcement and the lack of backing. by their administrations, which has. nothing to do with this particular case. other than I'm on a pulpit for a second. here. And and that that is to say that. law enforcement standards are tragically. dropping across the country because. police departments are having a harder. time bringing people that are credible. into the job. And that is really. terrifying to me because if this is.

happening with what should have been 10. years ago the the cream of the crop, then what's going to happen if we. continue to lower standards? >> That's a legitimate concern. I I totally. get it. Um do you see any avenue where. he would remain in some form in law. enforcement? I mean, if he's convicted. of this or he's pleads guilty to this, I. don't really see an avenue where that. happens. But if the charges are dropped. for some reason or he's found not guilty. in your experience, officers who are. charged with a crime and the charges are.

dropped or they're acquitted, can they. come back to the force? >> Yeah. I mean, we see police officers who. are charged and acquitted come back to. the job and frankly they should be able. to come back to the job. But this is. kind of an interesting situation because. if in fact he has suggested that it. happened or said, "I know what's going. to happen if we go to the hospital." If. any of those things are found credible, it's likely that he's going to be. convicted and that is probably going to. solve the problem because he shouldn't. be in law enforcement if he's convicted. of a felony charge. Some agencies may.

suggest that some misdemeanors are. acceptable. I don't know of any. personally that do that. Infractions, entirely different kinds of issues. >> You know what complicates his defense in. a case like this? When you're dealing. with young children, you could say, I've. seen defense attorneys say this, "Oh, those injuries on the child, they were. running on the playground, they fell. down, they have bumps and injuries, you. know, they bumps and bruises." Not a. six-month-old. Very, very different. That is such a vulnerable state to.

explain away those injuries as a result. of something else, someone else. That. could be problematic for him, right? >> Oh, absolutely. And and in reality, hopefully they're doing a closer. examination of the child because if. there's any suggestion that that the. sister to this child was squeezed, it's. possible that this child was squeezed as. well and there would be ri fractures or. at least disjointed rib where the. cartilage is torn. That contra is only. created by violent shaking where that.

brain actually is rocking back and forth. inside the skull of that child. And so. if that injury was caused by contrau, that's an entirely different kind of an. assault than simply pushing something. down. I'm really struggling with how. pushing a pacifier down the throat would. cause any kind of lesions in the brain. unless it was so violent pushing it in. that it caused that little contraue. reaction where the brain tore away from. the lining. It. >> it's disgusting to be thinking about.

It's horrifying to be thinking about. And you know, this uh apparent evidence. of bleeding is also just kind of hard to. imagine. >> Well, and and I might say, Jesse, th. this too is is just the beginning. because if there were brain bleeds, we. don't know if that's been trauma to the. child that will end up in any kind of a. long-term issue that that child deals. with, too. So, this is only the. beginning. This is a six-month old child. that they really can't look at and. understand cognitive response or or or. physical responses.

Now, according to court records, Coronado made his first court appearance. on August 20th by video from the Saw. County Jail. As we mentioned, a special. prosecutor was appointed. The judge set. his bond at $10,000 along with strict. conditions. Maybe no surprise here that. he's to have no contact with his wife or. children except through a third party. who can retrieve his belongings from the. family's home. He is due back in court. on September 3rd for a preliminary. hearing basically to determine if. there's enough evidence to move forward.

with the prosecution and he's currently. on suspension from the Portage Police. Department pending the outcome of this. case. Now, real quick, Mike, the. ramifications of him being suspended. Could that jeopardize any cases, any. investigations he was a part of that are. now moving forward towards prosecution? >> Absolutely. I mean, wouldn't you love to. be the prosecutor on all those cases. that you now have to just either dismiss. or try to continue while this thing is. fared out? It is undoubtedly going to.

have an impact on other cases. And. frankly, depending on what happens, could impact future cases where he's. brought in to testify, especially if. it's a domestic violence or a child. abuse case. >> It's a good point. Mike King, thank you. so much for coming on. It was great. seeing you. >> Good to see you, Jesse. Thank you. And. that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.

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