Dad charged with manslaughter in beating death of 8-week-old infant daughter (The Bronx, New York)

Dad GREGORY GRAY has been arrested on manslaughter charges in the beating death of his infant daughter, who was only 8-weeks old. Despite all the denials, Gray fits the picture of a lot of abuser dads: an unemployed guy "who spent a lot of time at home." Sometimes known as a stay-at-home dad. But really just a deadbeat with no clue who is drafted into doing infant care--probably because Mom had to work. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he really preferred his video games to diaper changes, and that Daddy got "frustrated" when that crying newborn interrupted him. That's a not uncommon scenario (see the video game tab below). The medical examiner says the baby died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso. In other words, beaten to death.

Other than it being noted that the mom is "sad" (which of course she is), there is very little mention of this baby's mom. While Daddy was "parading" the baby around the neighborhood, I wonder if she was stuck working some crummy, low-wage job. Too bad American women don't get real paid maternity leaves, so they didn't have to rely on deadbeat abuser dads for infant care.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/nyregion/07bronx.html

Bronx Family Mourns a Baby and Protests a Father’s Arrest
By COLIN MOYNIHAN and SARAH WHEATON
Published: November 6, 2010

A homemade placard outside the stately old apartment building on Davidson Avenue in the Bronx told of the heartbreak inside on Saturday.

“R.I.P. baby,” it said. “May God keep you. Your day of peace began on 11/3. Love always, Monique and Yolanda.”

The date referred to the day Demi Gray, just eight weeks old, was brought by ambulance to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital after her father called an ambulance; he told 911 operators that she had stopped breathing.

The girl died about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, about an hour after she was brought in. Her father, Gregory Gray, 21, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter in her death. The charges were filed after the medical examiner’s office ruled that the infant died of blunt force trauma and said that it appeared she had been beaten on the head and torso.

Mr. Gray has been denied bail and was in custody on Saturday night. During a hearing on Friday, prosecutors said he gave them conflicting accounts about how Demi was injured, The Associated Press reported: They said he told them he had dropped the girl on a metal chair, that he had rolled over her and that he had possibly held her too tight.

On Davidson Avenue, in the Morris Heights neighborhood, family members saw it as a double tragedy — the death of a girl they adored and the arrest of a beloved young man they believed to be innocent.

Hopeton Thomas, who is Mr. Gray’s uncle by marriage, and who lives just a floor above the Gray family’s apartment, said it was a “sad ordeal.”

“He did not beat the child,” said Mr. Thomas, 41. “This child was well-loved by her father. This child was not an abused child.”

Mr. Gray, who was unemployed, would parade Demi through the neighborhood, showing her off to friends and neighbors, Mr. Thomas said. “He was happy about this child.”

Mr. Thomas described his nephew as “really a mama’s boy” who loved to play video games and who spent a lot of time at home. “He feels terrible about this,” Mr. Thomas said. The girl’s mother, he said, “was sad about the whole thing.”

Hospital officials had called the authorities to report that Demi’s death was unusual, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office said. Mr. Thomas said he did not know how Demi was injured. “I do not have insight into what may have occurred,” he said.

Outside the Grays’ apartment building, a plastic tarp had been spread out and decorated with memorial candles in glass sleeves. One was draped in a crucifix, and there were two stuffed bears and a pink balloon.

Mr. Thomas said his family wanted to mourn Demi and help her father. “We’re going to give him our full support,” he said. “He’s a loving kid. He was brought up with a lot of love.”