5-month-old baby ‘violently’ shaken by man while mom was out of town, Texas cops say
A mother instructed a man to not pick up her 5-month-old from day care, saying her mother would get the baby, but he ignored her request, and the child ended up with serious brain injures, Texas police said.
The woman picked up her child from the man’s home on June 6, 2023, after being out of town 15 days, according to court documents.
She took the infant home, and he started to drool from the side of his mouth and twitch on his right side, according to Houston police. After rushing the child to the hospital, she learned the baby had suffered severe brain injuries, according to court documents.
Now, the 31-year-old man has been charged with injury to a child. He was arrested Sept. 4 and is being held in jail on a $100,000 bond, according to jail records.
McClatchy News was unable to reach the man’s attorney for comment Sept. 6.
The mother confronted the man about the child’s health, but he said he did not know what happened, according to a probable cause statement filed Aug. 28.
One month after that conversation, the man told the mother he had accidentally dropped the child after picking him up from daycare on May 22, 2023, police said.
The man said he was “scared to tell the truth,” the mother told police.
A nurse practitioner said that the child’s injuries could not have been caused by dropping a child, according to police.
“She stated (‘no’),” according to court documents. “The injuries (that) occurred were signs of being shaken.”
According to court documents, the 5-month-old suffered shaken baby syndrome, which is a severe brain injury caused when an infant is “violently shaken.”
The baby also suffered a brain stroke and had a subdural hemorrhage, which causes bleeding inside the head, according to court documents and the Cleveland Clinic.
The man was scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 6.
This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 2:17 PM with the headline "5-month-old baby ‘violently’ shaken by man while mom was out of town, Texas cops say."
