A 9-week-old Lafayette infant who was rushed to Children’s Hospital in Aurora last month with critical injuries from alleged abuse has been upgraded to fair condition and might be breathing on his own, according to police and hospital officials.
Lafayette police Cmdr. Mark Battersby said Friday that Jack Koller’s condition hasn’t worsened, and doctors are experimenting with letting him breathe on his own.
Battersby couldn’t provide more details about how the infant is faring, and hospital officials said only that his condition has improved.
Jack’s father, Benjamin Koller, 26, of Lafayette was charged Friday with child abuse resulting in serious injury after police arrested him July 24 on suspicion of abusing his son by dropping, shaking, suffocating and biting him.
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett has said charges against Koller could change if Jack dies.
Koller, who’s being held on a $1 million bail, saw a judge Friday about 15 minutes before the rest of the inmates appeared for a standard 2 p.m. hearing at the Boulder County Jail.
In an arrest warrant affidavit for Koller, a Children’s Hospital doctor said that large areas of Jack’s brain are damaged, and “there will be considerable widespread brain damage if Jack lives.”
On Friday, Koller waived his right to have a preliminary hearing within 30 days. He’s due in court next on Sept. 17.
