Dad charged with aggravated assault of 3-month-old son (York County, Pennsylvania)

Typical case where Mom had to work outside the home to support the family, while the short-tempered father played infant caretaker--badly.

Dad is identified as MICHAEL ANDREW MOSTICK.

http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_27585853/west-manchester-township-father-charged-shaking-injuring-infant

West Manchester Township father charged with shaking, injuring infant son

Michael Mostick is charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child

By Teresa Boeckel
Updated: 02/23/2015 11:03:16 PM EST

A West Manchester Township man has been charged with shaking his infant son, resulting in serious injuries, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Michael Andrew Mostick, 41, of the 2400 block of Heather Road, has been charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children. He remains in York County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Emergency responders were called to the Mostick residence Feb. 7 for an unresponsive 3-month-old boy as the result of a fall, court papers state. The child's mother was at work at the time. Mostick told a dispatcher that he had fallen because the family's yellow Lab, Jake, bumped into him. After they fell, he told police, the baby cried and all of the sudden became unresponsive, court papers state.

The child was taken to York Hospital, but a CAT scan did not show anything, police said. #The following day, the mother told police, the infant became fussy and would not sleep or eat very well. He also vomited. In the early morning hours of Feb. 9, she contacted the pediatrician's office, and the answering service advised her to go to the emergency room with the child.

While the mother was at the hospital with the child, he began to have seizures, the affidavit states. The child was transported to Hershey Medical Center.

Tests at Hershey Medical Center showed that the child had bleeding on the brain and blood behind the eyes, causing him to not respond to light, the affidavit states. An attending physician also reported the boy's brain had been deprived of oxygen.

Police allege Mostick gave at least three different accounts on how he fell down the steps with his son, the affidavit states. In one case, Mostick said he fell on the child. In another, he said the baby's head hit the wall while falling down the steps. In another, he indicated that while falling down the steps, he grabbed his son around the throat. "Each account is different and he is inconsistent," police wrote in the charging documents.

An expert in pediatric injuries and child abuse at Hershey Medical Center said the boy's injuries were consistent with shaken-baby syndrome, police said. The doctor said none of the father's explanations were consistent with baby's injuries. When an infant is shaken violently, physical symptoms and injuries are almost immediate, the doctor said.

Police said the father was the only person who had access to the baby at the time the injuries occurred.

The boy is no longer in the hospital, Detective David Bixler said Monday afternoon.

"At this point, the child is doing better," he said, but added that the long-term effects of his injuries remain uncertain.