A Pennsylvania man was charged with attempted homicide several weeks after being arrested for allegedly beating his girlfriend’s 1-year-old son.
The original incident occurred on November 23, when Lyndon Henderson, 24, was watching his unnamed girlfriend’s son while she was at work.
When she got home, her son was unresponsive on the couch. The baby was transported to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and put on a ventilator.
According to state police, the little boy had a broken vertebrae and suffered a stroke.
Henderson was arrested on felony charges of aggravated assault, but on December 31, the charges were upgraded to attempted homicide.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by WPXI, a local NBC affiliate, Henderson told police during an interview that the little boy fell off the couch after he spun him around in circles for fun. He also mentioned that the boy was smiling after the fall.
The criminal complaint, however, cited a doctor who treated the boy in the hospital and stated that “[t]he brain injury sustained by the victim is 100%, unequivocally the result of child abuse.”
WPXI spoke with Carla Darrell, the boy’s paternal grandmother, who stated, “He was on all kinds of machines. He was beaten like a man. “A man beat my grandson.”
The toddler is still in a medically induced coma at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, weeks after being admitted.
Henderson was arrested and booked at the Washington County Correctional Facility, where he is being held without bail. His next court appearance will be a preliminary hearing on January 22.
