Dad arrested for "allegedly" inflicting severe head injuries on 1-month-old son (Normany, Tennessee)

Dad ANDREW KEITH JOHNSON has been charged with aggravated child abuse. His newborn son (just one month old) is in criticial care with severe head injuries. The baby also has broken ribs, which shows that a lot of "shaken baby" injuries are really tied in with abuse in general.

http://www.t-g.com/story/1673738.html

Father accused of injuring baby
Tuesday, October 19, 2010

By BRIAN MOSELY ~ bmosely@t-g.com

A 1-month old boy is clinging to life in a Nashville hospital with severe head injuries and his father has been charged with inflicting them.

Andrew Keith Johnston, 18, of Troupe Lane, Normandy, was arrested Sunday and charged with aggravated child abuse. He is being held under $100,000 bond and is set to appear before General Sessions Judge Charles Rich on Nov. 24.

According to Detective Capt. Becky Hord of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, a call went out Friday night about an unresponsive baby on Normandy Road and Bedford County emergency personnel responded, taking the boy to Harton Regional Medical Center in Tullahoma.

Harton treated the child for hypothermia and was kept under observation until Sunday, a Tullahoma Police Department report said.

The report stated the child was normal and responsive until early Sunday morning, when the mother, Amanda Voss, 18, noticed that the infant's left eye was extremely dilated, and it was discovered that the child had hemorrhaging in the brain.

The child was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center and during some point of the transport, the boy also apparently suffered a stroke from the hemorrhaging, Hord said.

"Lifeflight nurses reported to Harton staff that they observed broken ribs in William's x-ray and finger print marks on his left leg," the Tullahoma police report stated.

The report also stated that Voss told doctors at Harton that she had gone to the store for approximately 10 minutes. When she returned, Johnston had told emergency medical service that the child was "unresponsive."

The father told hospital personnel that he put the baby in cold water in the shower for a few minutes in an attempt to wake him.

"They didn't think the child was going to make it," Hord explained Monday about the flight to Vanderbilt, adding that by the time she arrived in Nashville, the child had come out of surgery, and is currently in critical care.

Hord praised Tullahoma police for their investigation of the alleged abuse.