Drugs may have played a role in the arrest of a West Side man who fought with police after neighbors reported he was violently handling his infant daughter in the middle of a Lawndale street Wednesday night.
Police say Lexton Jenkins, 22, may have been high on drugs when he was allegedly seen handling the 6-month-old girl aggressively while walking in the 3900 block of West Cermak Road, police said.
Witnesses reported that Jenkins, of the 4000 block of West Jackson Boulevard, was throwing the girl in the air and tossing and rocking her abruptly, according to a police report.
Officers arrived about 11 p.m. and found the baby was wearing only pajamas in outdoor temperatures that hovered around 42 degrees, officials said.
Police took the girl into a warm squad car, and she was later treated at Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. When officers went to arrest Jenkins, he reportedly fought with them, police said.
Jenkins, who was without shoes and in only a T-shirt and jeans at the time of his arrest, was charged with misdemeanor counts of endangering the life and health of a child, simple assault and resisting arrest, police said. He was also charged with violating an order of protection.
