A father in Indiana has been accused of neglect leading to severe bodily harm for allegedly shaking his 3-month-old daughter until she lost consciousness.
Neil McCaffery, 26, was arrested on Wednesday, a week after his baby daughter was taken to the hospital with a severe brain bleed, WXIN reported.
The Muncie Police reported that they received a call to the family’s residence on May 8 regarding an infant who was not responding. The parents informed the authorities that the baby had a blockage in her throat, and while trying to burp her, she became unresponsive. Medical professionals discovered that the baby was experiencing a seizure, and she was airlifted to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. At the hospital, it was determined that she had suffered a “bilateral subdural hematoma,” resulting in acute bleeding in her brain and eyes.
The infant underwent immediate surgery to alleviate the pressure on her brain. Subsequently, she experienced cardiac arrest, and examinations revealed bleeding on both sides of her brain, in her eyes, and along her spinal cord.
The child was placed on a feeding tube, and doctors said she would likely experience developmental delays.
They also said her injuries were consistent with being shaken or thrown on the ground.
In an initial interview with police, McCaffery said that he came home from work that day and was outside doing yard work when his wife said their baby was ussy from a “gas bubble.” He took the baby into his bedroom, where he put her on his knee and slapped her back to get her to burp. After that he put the baby on the bed and went “to count money.” His wife, he said, was in the room.
But hs suddenly noticed the baby’s ace was turning blue and that she was limp. While his wife called 911, he said, he put the child in front of a fan because she was hot.
In her initial interview, the child’s mother corroborated her husband’s statement except to say she was not in the room. When officers told her the child’s injuries were consistent with being shaken, she said she’d never done that.
Then she officers that her husband came into the house after hearing the baby “crying uncontrollaby” and took the baby into the bedroom. She said they were in the room for about four minutes until the baby stopped crying. Then McCaffrey came out and said she wasn’t breathing.
McCaffrey was booked into the Delaware County Jail and quickly released on a $20,000 bond.
