A Pennsylvania man faces a murder charge after police say he shook, threw, and dropped his infant daughter, apparently after flying into a rage while playing a video game.
“An infant cannot defend herself. A baby cannot run away or call for help,” District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a statement. “A baby is the most innocent and vulnerable victim possible.”
It is reported that prosecutors said that on Feb. 10, Coatesville police officers responded to a call about an infant in cardiac arrest. Paramedics took the child to the hospital in critical condition. She ended up at the A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children, where she died two days later.
According to ABC7, Rosalie Faith Crothers-Shockley’s injuries included bleeding from the brain and eyes, damage that is said to be consistent with abusive head trauma.
Citing a statement made by authorities, the ABC7 report indicates the child’s injuries may have been caused by the suspect’s dropping and violently shaking the baby immediately before her death, but also points to the discovery of older, chronic brain injuries sustained by the child, which would be consistent with previous repeated abuse.
It is alleged in a complaint cited by ABC7 that shortly after Christmas, Shockley became enraged while playing a video game. He reportedly picked up the baby and shook her for approximately five minutes, and threw the baby in the air several times, failing to catch his infant daughter as she struck a mattress face down.
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