A Cross Lanes man admitted to shaking his 4-month-old son, causing bleeding on the brain, after his arraignment Monday morning.
Joshua Steven Albany, 24, of Antelope Lane, confirmed that he had hurt his son when a reporter asked.
"I shook him," Albany said.
Albany is charged with child abuse causing injury, a felony.
"Yes, I do," he said, when a reporter asked if he felt bad about it.
Kanawha County paramedics were called to the house when the baby was having trouble breathing on Sunday, and the baby was taken to Charleston Area Medical Center's Women and Children's Hospital, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
Health care providers reported the baby had bleeding on the brain, a broken left collarbone and slight bruising on the left rib area.
Bleeding on the brain is a symptom of shaken baby syndrome, also known as abusive head trauma. Long-term effects of shaken baby syndrome can include developmental or behavioral problems, seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, hearing loss or blindness. Survivors may need lifelong care as a result.
Sgt. Sean Snuffer wrote in the criminal complaint that Albany said he shook the infant because he was frustrated.
Sgt. Brian Humphreys said he believed Albany was trying to sleep.
"He said he was frustrated and tired of the child crying, keeping him up," Humphreys said.
One in four babies who are violently shaken will die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Humphreys said it's too soon to tell whether the baby will survive, and that the baby's young age also makes it difficult to predict.
"That, of course, depends on how you define OK," he said. "Even then the doctors probably won't tell you one way or another. They've got to look at the health of the baby before ... They can't predict how a child will recover. They will be quick to tell you that babies are resilient and they're still growing and that there is always hope, but it's also serious injuries like that are not always recoverable."
Humphreys said late Monday afternoon that the baby was still in the intensive care unit under observation, where he was that morning.
He said the case stood out from others because Albany was only alone with the child for a short time, while the mother was in another room of the house.
"From other statements and from other people that were there, it was a matter of minutes in which this could have happened, and then there was catastrophic damage to the child," he said.
Humphreys said Albany denied the abuse to the child's mother until after the police came. He was not sure whether the mother will face any charges.
Kanawha Magistrate Ward Harshbarger told Albany he is not to have any contact with children, and set bail at $100,000 property or 10 percent cash. Albany faces up to 10 years in prison.
Reach Erin Beck at
304-348-5163 or follow
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