Preliminary hearing set for former Newton County deputy charged with felony child abuse

A 9 a.m. April 5 preliminary hearing has been scheduled in Jasper County Circuit Court for former Newton County deputy sheriff Kenneth R. Rush, 51, who was charged with felony child abuse after his two-month-old daughter was taken to Children's Mercy Hospital December 19 with severe bleeding on the brain and abusive head trauma.

Judge Joseph Hensley set a $750,000 cash only bond during a February 28 hearing. Conditions of the bond are that Rush live with his sister in Clinton, where he will be placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring and have no contact with the victim or anyone under the age of 17.

Jasper County Jail records indicate Rush has not posted bond.

The allegations against Rush are detailed in the probable cause statement from the Joplin Police Department:

On December 19, 2017, Kenneth R. Rush's two-month-old child was taken (to) the hospital via EMS due to having breathing problems and what was believed to be a seizure. 

Once at the hospital, (the child) was seen to have bleeding on the brain. Hospital staff decided to have (her) flown to Children's Mercy in Kansas City for further treatment.
Once at Children's Mercy, (she) was found to have too numerous to count intraretinal and preretinal hemorrhages. 

Once those results were found, the Children's Mercy SCAN team was contacted to consult and further treat (the child). Medical staff with Children's Mercy advised the injury to (her) eyes was a result of non-accidental abusive head trauma. 

Throughout the duration of the investigation, Mr. Rush acknowledged he was the cause of the injuries to (the child), however, Mr. Rush's explanation of what had happened to (her) while (she) was in his car changed several times from nothing happened to he tripped and fell while holding (her) to he was tossing (her) in the air and catching (her) and finally to he was bouncing (her) while (she) was laying on the couch.

Rush, a 14-year law enforcement veteran came to the Newton County Sheriff's Department in February from Bates County. He began his career with the Butler Police Department in 2003.