According to investigators, a Lawrence Park Township man told police that a 3-month-old boy was rushed to the hospital with a head injury in late August after falling from his arms and landing on the floor.
However, a physician at a Pittsburgh hospital and medical records revealed more serious injuries than the youngster could have sustained accidentally, according to facts in a criminal complaint filed last week.
Curtis R. Finn, 32, the child’s father, is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 27 for his preliminary hearing after being arraigned on felony counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children, as well as misdemeanor counts of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person, on Nov. 5.
Finn was freed on unsecured bond after being arraigned, according to court records. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
According to the criminal complaint against Finn, Lawrence Park police learned of the 3-month-old’s injuries when an official from the Erie County Office of Children and Youth phoned them on August 23 to report a little kid with a traumatic injury at UPMC Hamot.
The youngster was eventually taken to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at UPMC for emergency surgery, according to the investigating officer’s affidavit of probable cause.
When a Lawrence Park officer and an OCY official visited Finn’s Priestly Avenue home to speak with him, Finn explained that he was holding the child when the child pushed against his chest, threw his head back, and kicked his feet up, causing Finn to lose control of the child. Finn claimed the toddler fell backward and landed on his head, according to the affidavit.
Police stated that they studied medical information from UPMC Hamot and Children’s Hospital. According to a physician’s documented study of the child’s injuries, the youngster sustained a traumatic brain injury, subdural bleeding, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, all of which necessitated neurosurgery. The youngster also had a skull fracture that ran from one side of his head to the other, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, the physician also noticed blood surrounding the child’s spinal cord, which is caused by extreme spinal cord flexing or bending.
The physician ruled out any history of accidental trauma as a cause of the brain trauma and decided the child’s injuries were indicative of inflicted trauma, according to the investigating officer’s affidavit.
Reference: Lawrence Park man charged after 3-month-old boy in his care suffers serious head injuries