A Pennsylvania man has been charged with attempted murder after he left his girlfriend’s 1-year-old son in a medically induced coma while a recovers from a severe beating.
The little boy suffered a stroke and had a broken vertebra in his neck, WPXI reported.
Police say the mother’s boyfriend, Lyndon Henderson, was watching her son while the mother was at work on November 23. She told investigators she returned home and found little Kybrel unresponsive on the couch, WTAE reported.
The boy was taken to a hospital and put on a ventilator to assist with his breathing. The doctor said he suffered a traumatic brain injury and multiple bruises that he said were “unequivocally the result of child abuse.”
Henderson reported said the baby boy fell off the couch after he had spun him in circles. He said the boy recovered from the fall and “was smiling,” he told investigators.
Henderson was initially arrested on aggravated assault charges, but those charges have been upgraded to attempted murder, WPXI said.
“My office will always seek justice for victims,” Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh said. “Children are innocent and our most vulnerable, and I will prosecute offenders who commit crimes against them vigorously and to the fullest extent the law allows.”
Baby Kybrel’s grandmother, Carla Darrell, told the station that Henderson, who is being held without bond, beat the baby “like a man.”
“I don’t believe he belongs out of jail. He belongs there. He belongs where he deserves. He deserves in there,” said Darrell.
