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An unnamed woman had left the 1-year-old boy in the care of her 25-year-old boyfriend Dontae Thomas in her apartment in the 1000 block of Hill Street in Chester Borough on Friday, February 10, Trooper Matthew Peacock explains in the affidavit of probable cause citing an interview Pennsylvania state police had with Thomas.
That morning, Thomas had been in bed with the infant when he noticed blood coming from the child's mouth because the boy was biting his tongue, so Thomas shook the baby "approximately three times and while he was shaking the child he hit his head on the headboard of the bed," he admitted to the police in a second interview cited in the affidavit.
The following morning, he went to clean the baby in the bath and "left to get some clothes for the child," and when he return "the child's head was underwater," he explained to the police, according to the court documents. Thomas pulled the breathing baby from the tub but he was limp so he called his girlfriend who told him to call 911, and the operator instructed him to attempt CPR, according to the court documents.
Investigators and EMS were called to the apartment around noon that Saturday and noticed the boy "had numerous bruises on his body, "as stated in the affidavit.
The infant boy was taken by helicopter to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where Dr. Sahud discovered a brain bleed and "numerous bruises head to toe," as stated in the court documents. Photo of bruises on the infant's "head, face, chest, stomach, arms, and legs," were sent to Peacock as evidence in the investigation.
The boy is also suspected to have suffered multiple bone fractures but further testing was required, according to Sahud— who said the boy suffered "near-fatal" injuries as a result of abuse, as the marks "were not from the child falling or bumping into an object," the court documents detail.
Thomas was charged with aggravated assault- attempts to cause serious bodily injury or causes injury with extreme indifference, aggravated assault- victim less than 6 years old and defendant 18 years of age or older, aggravated assault- victim less than 13 years of age and the defendant 18 years of age or older, and three counts of endangering the welfare of children- parent or guardian commits the offense, as detailed in his court docket.
He was arraigned on Sunday and has been held in the Clearfield County Prison on $150,000 bail with his preliminary hearing has been set before Magisterial District Judge David S. Meholick on Feb. 22 at 8:30 a.m., according to his court docket.
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