Man feeds 10-month-old niece a cocktail of baby formula and alcohol while mother is at work

A man has been arrested after feeding his 10-month-old niece a potent cocktail of baby formula and alcohol according to police.

Dontavian McCree, 19, mixed his 10-month-old niece's baby formula with alcohol and fed it to her, police say.

He faces charges of torture and willful abuse of a child after the child was admitted to hospital in Alabama.

Staff at the hospital called the police after examining the infant and discovering she’d ingested formula spiked with alcohol.

Dothan Police Investigator Cpl. Sean Morgan confirmed police charged Dontavian Lee McCree, 19, of Westgate Parkway, with felony torture child abuse, according to the Dothan Eagle .

“The mother had to go to work, and he was the babysitter,” Morgan said. “The mother was at work and when she came home from work she noticed the baby wasn’t acting normal.”

Morgan said McCree was arrested after it was determined he was the sole caregiver for the child for around a seven to eight-hour period from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. He said the baby was taken to the hospital after her mother arrived home from work.

Morgan said their investigation shows an unidentified type of alcohol was mixed in with the baby’s powder formula.

“There was no debate about him mixing it and all,” Morgan said. “He was freely admitting he was the one who mixed the baby bottle and he was the only one there. Everything else came down to intent.”

Morgan said McCree is the baby’s uncle, and brother of the child’s mother.

McCree was taken to the Houston County Jail and held on $15,000 (£9,600) bail. McCree faces one to 10 years in prison if convicted.