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Police accuse Connellsville man with assaulting baby

By Miles Layton jmlayton@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

State police have accused a Connellsville man with hitting his 9-month-old son while he was caring for the boy at a home in Fayette County.

Police allege that Damon Wesley Savage was caring for the boy Oct. 22 at the home he shares with his girlfriend Diana Bennett on Highland Street in Dunbar Township when he slapped the left side of his son’s face causing severe pain, swelling and bruising.

The name of the Savage’s son was redacted by Magistrate Richard Kasunic’s office.

Police said Savage did not seek medical treatment for the child, but instead put his son down for a nap and left him in the care of his girlfriend’s sister, Cecilia Bennett, while he took her to a doctor’s appointment.

The complaint said when Cecelia Bennett returned the boy to his mother, Cortney Snyder, a short time after Savage left, Bennett alerted Snyder that she may want to take her son to the hospital. Police said Snyder immediately noticed the bruising and swelling to the child’s face.

Police said Snyder took her son to Frick Hospital and later to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for further treatment.

Snyder also reported the incident to police and Fayette County Children and Youth Services, who took photographs of the injured child. Police allege that while Snyder was caring for her son, she received text messages from Savage who said what happened to the boy was an accident.

Savage told police that while he was changing his son’s diaper, the boy rolled off the bed and hit the left side of his face on the hardwood floor, the complaint said. Savage said the boy cried for only about a minute before he put the boy down for a nap between 30 to 40 minutes later, police said.

Two days after the alleged incident, police received a report on Oct. 24 written by Dr. Adelaide Eichman, assistant professor of pediatrics, from the Child Advocacy Center at Children’s Hospital, police said.

“The bruising to (the boy’s) face is diagnostic of physical child abuse,” Eichman wrote in the report quoted in the complaint. “(The boy) has a hand print on the left side of his face. (The boy could not have caused this bruising himself. Bruising to both sides of (the boy’s) face is not consistent with a fall from a bed. This injury caused severe pain at the time that it occurred. (The boy) does not have any underlying medical condition to predispose him to bruising.”

Savage, 24, has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment.

Savage was arraigned Friday, where his bond was set at $100,000. He remains in Fayette County Prison.

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