A Georgia woman was charged in the death of a baby dropped during a fight that was caught on surveillance video, according to reports on Aug. 13.
WALB-TV reported that 30-year-old Terra Shanquelle Brown turned herself in on Aug. 11 and was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree child cruelty, and affray.
Officials said that she was pregnant during the time of the fight, which took place last month.
On July 23, police arrested 26-year-old Karen Lashun Harrison and her friend, 26-year-old Carneata Clark, after they allegedly lied about the fight that led to the death of Harrison’s child, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Harrison told police that the child fell from her arms. But surveillance video showed Harrison and Brown attacking one another in front of a beauty supply store on July 19.
In the video, Harrison is seen dropping her baby. The next day, the baby was transported to Colquitt Regional Medical Center for a head injury, and the child later died.
Police charged her with felony murder, first-degree child cruelty, second-degree child cruelty, simple battery, and affray charges. Clark was charged with making false statements and obstruction.
In an interview with WALB, Clark said that there is more to the incident than meets the eye.
“She strong though, she real strong. Karen real strong,” Clark told the news outlet.
“People on the outside looking in, they don’t even know the whole story, you feel me. I feel like, free Karen, all the way,” said Clark.
“If y’all know Karen, she takes care of her kids, y’all know how she feel about her kids, y’all know what she’ll do for her kids, y’all know that she is not no bad person,” added Clark.
Officials told WALB that more charges could follow in the case, including for the woman involved in the fight with Harrison.
“Preliminary information indicates that the baby died as a result of medical attention not being sought and based upon that, the warrant was issued for felony murder,” said District Attorney Brad Shealy.
“No charges at this time, doesn’t mean some couldn’t come out in the future, based upon the evidence,” added Shealy.
Regarding the charges, “We investigated the incident and determined the baby did not receive his injuries how it was reported,” Lt. Freddie Williams, with the Moultrie Police Department, told reporters.
“It was reported to us that the baby had fallen from the caregiver’s arms and received the injuries, then we got information that there was a fight,” he added.
Facts About Crime in the US
Violent crime in the United States has fallen sharply over the past 25 years, according to both the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
The rate of violent crimes fell by 49 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the FBI’s UCR, which only reflects crimes reported to the police.
The violent crime rate dropped by 74 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the BJS’s NCVS, which takes into account both crimes that have been reported to the police and those that have not.
From 1993 to 2017, the rate of violent victimization declined 74 percent, from 79.8 to 20.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, the U.S. Department of Justice stated.
Both studies are based on data collected up to and including 2017, the most recent year for which complete figures are available.
The FBI recently released preliminary data for 2018. According to the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January to June 2018, violent crime rates in the United States dropped by 4.3 percent compared to the same six-month period in 2017.
