EVERETT — An Everett man now stands accused of causing lasting damage to his infant son’s brain, all because he wanted the child to stop crying.
Joseph Ryan Bradley, 35, assaulted the 2-month-old in August, causing a skull fracture, bleeding on the brain and other injuries, deputy prosecutor Bob Langbehn said in Snohomish County Superior Court papers filed late last week.
The child now has limited vision, is at high risk of epilepsy and will require a feeding tube, the prosecutor said.
“It is very likely that the victim will be highly dependent on caregivers throughout his lifetime and very impaired with respect to his cognitive skills,” Langbehn wrote. “He will never return to his baseline functioning before his injury.”
He charged Bradley with first-degree assault on a child. The charge accuses Bradley of recklessly inflicting serious bodily harm.
The investigation began Aug. 1 after the child was taken to an area hospital. The explanation for the boy’s injuries did not match what doctors found.
Initially, the father said the boy may have been hurt when another child threw a plastic block. He later said the infant began gasping and displaying other troubling symptoms while the boy’s mother was at work. When she returned home, they took the boy to the hospital.
Doctors said the child’s injuries were far more severe than would have happened if beaned by a block. The father met with an Everett police detective. He reportedly told a different story about what happened.
This time he said the child had “flopped and face planted on the table” and that he was trying to get the boy to stop crying.
“The defendant admitted that he shook his son and said when that occurred, he slipped out of the defendant’s hands and hit his head on a solid wood table located in their bedroom,” the prosecutor wrote. “He also admitted the victim slipped because he ‘flipped him too hard.’ ”
The man then demonstrated the movements on a doll, the prosecutor wrote.
Bradley has no criminal history. He’s remained free while the investigation has progressed.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.
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