California man jailed in assault of 1-year-old
State police arrested a California man Sunday after a 1-year-old baby in his care ended up severely injured and hospitalized on a ventilator.
Lyndon Gerald Henderson, 24, faces felony charges of aggravated assault, and misdemeanors of endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment.
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh said Monday that the baby remains on a ventilator at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. According to Walsh, Henderson is the boyfriend of the boy’s mother.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday to Henderson’s apartment at 71 Third St. after the baby’s mother reported that her son was not breathing.
The mother told investigators that she left for work and left the child in Henderson’s care, and saw him over FaceTime at about 12:30 p.m. He was unresponsive when she returned home, according to the complaint.
The 1-year-old was initially taken to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital before being transported to UPMC Children’s. Police said he had to be placed on a ventilator, and charging documents state that the baby experienced a stroke following the surgery.
Henderson claimed to investigators that the child fell off the couch but appeared to be fine afterwards.
According to the complaint, the baby suffered a traumatic brain injury and extensive bruising to his body. Court documents state that a doctor at UPMC Children’s told investigators that the brain injury is “one hundred percent, unequivocally, the result of child abuse.”
Henderson was arraigned Monday morning before District Judge Phillippe Melograne, who sent him to the Washington County jail without bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Dec. 11.