Dad charged with homicide in death of 1-month-old daughter; baby killed during his "parenting time" (Rock Hill, South Carolina)

The parents are clearly not together, but it is not apparent here whether this "parenting time" arrangement was court-ordered or "voluntary." In some ways it doesn't matter, as mothers are under increasing pressure to allow ex-boyfriends access to the baby, even when the ex-boyfriend in question has a criminal record as this one does (somehow I suspect there is more than marijuana use here). The results are often sickening, just as they are in this case. These guys just don't have the patience or nurturing skills to take care of young infants. They just don't.

Sperm donors do not need and do not deserve access to young children, especially newborn babies. If you never made a commitment to the mother or the kids, then forget about your freaking "rights."

Dad is identified as QUENTIN EVANS.

http://www.thestate.com/2014/01/24/3224591/police-rock-hill-father-charged.html

Police: Rock Hill father charged in 1-month-old baby's death

By Jonathan McFadden and Rachel Southmayd
January 24, 2014 Updated 26 minutes ago

ROCK HILL — Police have charged a Rock Hill father with the death of his baby daughter after authorities determined that injuries he inflicted on her resulted in her death on Thursday.

Quentin Evans, 25, is charged with homicide by child abuse, according to officials. His bond has been set at $100,000.

York County Coroner Sabrina Gast confirmed that her office is investigating 1-month-old Kaidence Evans' death as a homicide. She would not release details about how Kaidence died although an autopsy had already been completed.

The cause of death should be released next week, pending a review by the child fatality team, she said.

Early Thursday morning, police were sent to 19 Wright St. after receiving calls about an infant who was unconscious and not breathing, said Executive Officer Mark Bollinger of the Rock Hill Police Department. When officers arrived, they found paramedics already on scene trying to resuscitate the girl inside an ambulance.

The girl was taken to Piedmont Medical Center, where doctors worked before she died, Gast said. An official time of death was not available.

After an autopsy was completed, Gast ruled the girl's death a homicide. When detectives arrived on scene, they saw apparent injuries on the girl, one of which included a broken collar bone and evident bruising.

Bollinger said the girl suffered from internal injuries, as well.

"It was evident and apparent that this baby had been abused," he said. "A lot of the things we saw are evidence of shaken baby syndrome, but the injuries...it had to be really violent. We don't know if the baby was dropped or what else happened to the baby, but we did have major indications of a shaken baby syndrome that caused injuries severe enough to cause the baby's death."

Evans was alone with the girl when the incident happened, Bollinger said. The girl's mother was at her home.

"Early in the morning, (Evans) said he didn't know what happened," he said. "That was his first comment to police officers."

Evans lives at the Wright Street home, less than a half-mile from Arcade Park, with his parents and other relatives. Evans and Kaidence's mother are not together, and Thursday was Evans' turn to watch over his daughter.

It's unclear exactly what led to the girl's injuries, but arrest warrants show that she suffered from severe injuries consistent with "being shaken violently."

Detectives recovered the baby's bedding, according to a Rock Hill police report. Police did not note if anything was amiss inside the home.

Evans' criminal history includes one conviction for possession of marijuana, according to records with the State Law Enforcement Division

"Even being in law enforcement as long as I have, it's always worse when it's children and it's even worse yet when it's even babies," Bollinger said. "Any time there's homicides, whether you're a big city that has lots of them or cities our size that average three to six a year, we always try to figure out if there's something we can do as a police agency to stop it."

"When it's an infant death like this, there's not really anything we can do because it all happens behind closed doors," he said.

Kaidence's death is Rock Hill's second homicide this year.