Father pleads to abuse of crying baby

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A Wichita Falls father accused of abusing his son when the one-month-old would not stop crying pleads guilty and is assessed a probated sentence.

Andrew Flickinger pleaded guilty to one count of injury to a child for 5 years probation and
a second count was dismissed.

Police said actions by Flickinger included cursing at the baby, pinching his nostrils shut, picking him up by the neck, and sticking his finger in the baby’s mouth in an effort to stop him from crying, and were recorded on a camera.

It happened in May of 2022 in the 4200 block of Seymour Road.

Police said several video clips from a camera in the room showed him abusing the baby and they also viewed several photographs taken by the victim’s mother of bruising and marks on the baby.

They said when the baby began crying Flickinger put his left hand around the back of the baby’s neck and lifted the baby out with a jerk and pulled him toward his face.

When the baby began crying louder Flickinger pulled the baby closer to his face and could be heard saying, “Shut the [expletive] up.”

As the baby continued to cry, he put him on his knee and lifted him by his neck again and put him on the couch and then picked him up by the neck again and forcibly put him in a bouncer seat, saying “No, no, no.”

The charge that was dismissed alleged Flickinger at another point also pinched the baby’s nostrils closed until he stopped crying then when he resumed crying again Flickinger picked him up, snapping the baby’s head back then forward.

Police said Flickinger put his forefinger into his baby’s mouth up to his knuckle causing the baby’s head to jolt forward, and the baby’s crying is muffled.