By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Police are investigating whether a infant was injured in a fall from his mother’s arms or from child abuse.
A 2-month-old boy was treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Oct. 5 for head injuries that medical staff didn’t think were consistent with the baby’s mother’s description of how he was injured, according to papers filed in Everett District Court.
The baby suffered a fractured skull, brain bruising and more than one area of bleeding in his brain, which the boy’s pediatrician believes were the result of "shaken baby syndrome," a court document said.
Everett Police Detective Sally VanBeek went to the hospital, and on Thursday, investigators served a search warrant on the mother’s apartment to look for evidence.
A Harborview doctor told VanBeek the baby had a hemorrhage consistent with a severe blow to the head. The mother told authorities the baby hit his head when she accidentally dropped him from her arms as she was walking into the bathroom of her home, according to filings.
The baby’s mother told VanBeek that on Oct. 3, she got up and got her 5-year-old son up and told him to get dressed. She put the baby in a "bouncy chair" and attached the Velcro leg and waist straps, then picked up the chair with the baby in it. As she walked to the bathroom, her hand struck the doorframe and her hand let go of the chair, the document said. The baby fell out and landed on the linoleum floor.
When VanBeek served the search warrant, she seized an infant chair and paperwork that indicated the baby’s mother was the occupant of the apartment.
The case remains under investigation.
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437 or send e-mail to
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