Dad being investigated for shaking of newborn daughter; baby not expected to recover (Gloucester, Virginia)

UNNAMED DAD claims he accidentally dropped the his 6-week-old daughter while bathing her (a/k/a clumsy daddy syndrome). However, doctors say her brain injuries are too extensive for that, and not consistent with a mere fall. Where was Mom while Daddy was doing all this caretaking? Working? Who knows. No mention of the mom at all.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/crime/dp-nws-glo-child-abuse-0206-20110205,0,5131186.story

Gloucester deputies investigating possible shaken baby incident
6-week-old girl in intensive care 'not expected to recover'

By Dan Parsons, dparsons@dailypress.com

February 5, 2011

GLOUCESTER — The Gloucester Sheriff's Office is investigating a case of possible child abuse that landed a 6-week-old girl in intensive care earlier this month.

Around 8 a.m., Jan. 8, Gloucester Sheriff's deputies were called to a home in the 7400 block of Native American Trail. The caller said an infant had been dropped 2 to 3 feet and was "acting weird," according to a search warrant filed Jan. 10 in Gloucester County Circuit Court.

The child was transported to Riverside Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester, then to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk with multiple injuries "not consistent with a fall" from a height of 3 feet, according to the warrant.

The child's father, whose name is being withheld because charges have not been brought, told police he accidentally dropped the child while bathing her, according to the search warrant.

An examination by doctors at CHKD determined the girl was suffering from impact injuries to the head and others consistent with a "shaking injury," according to the warrant. The warrant explains the girl suffered blood clots and damaged tissue in the brain.

The warrant filed Jan. 10 is seeking permission to seek the child's house for physical evidence of child abuse. A separate warrant filed Jan.13 seeks phone and text messages from the child's parent's cell phones.

That warrant indicates the child was still in intensive care at CHKD and is "not expected to recover."

No arrests have been made in the case and the investigation is ongoing. Commonwealth's Attorney Bob Hicks said in an earlier interview that he would present the case to a grand jury March 7.