CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PA—An 18-year-old Maryland man has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and endangering the welfare of children after police say he dipped an infant’s foot into scalding hot water because the girl was crying.
North Middleton Township Police say Jordan Gabriel Brown, of Aberdeen, Md, caused the infant to suffer second-degree burns to its left foot. Brown is a paramour of the child’s mother.
The incident happened on Feb. 13, police say.
The investigation began after police were alerted to the child’s injury by staff at the Lehigh Valley Hospital Burn Center, where the child was transported for treatment. Brown and the child’s mother initially took the child to UPMC Pinnacle Hospital in Carlisle at 10:27 p.m., police say.
According to police, the child had to be sedated due to the injury, which was diagnosed as a second-degree burn. Brown and the child’s mother told doctors the child had not been burned by hot water or grease, and that they believed the child was having an allergic reaction to a sock.
Jordan Gabriel Brown, of Aberdeen, Md, is accused of attempting to conceal the child’s injury by putting a sock on its foot and later claiming the redness and blisters were caused by an “allergic reaction” to the sock, police say. https://t.co/aAGtido0to
— WPMT FOX43 (@fox43) May 3, 2019
The child was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital on Feb. 14. Once there, Brown allegedly told staffers the blistering and redness could have been caused by hot water. He said he had taken the child, who was fussy, into the kitchen to prepare a bottle of milk. At the time, he said, the right side of the sink was filled with a bag of frozen meat that was thawing in hot water. Brown said as he reached for the child’s bottle, the child’s leg must have dipped into the water, causing it to suffer a burn.
Brown was interviewed by police on Feb. 15 and said the burn was caused by his recklessness. He did not want to admit he had placed the child’s foot in the water, police say.
Police say Brown attempted to cover the child’s burn by placing a sock on its foot. The baby’s mother only noticed the burn when she removed the sock, after noticing the child was not acting normal and crying louder than usual, police say.
Brown only told medical staff what he thought happened after staff told him the injury could only be caused by a burn, police say. He “attempted to conceal his reckless act,” police say in the complaint.
Infant Girl Shaken by Dad Dies 14 Years Later
A Pennsylvania man has turned himself in to face a criminal homicide charge after the death of a teenage daughter he injured when she was an infant.
Authorities say 37-year-old Ariden Jackson surrendered around noon on April 18 to Allegheny County detectives. It’s not clear whether he has an attorney to speak for him.
Authorities say Jackson told police in May 2005 that he shook 4-week-old Janiya in an apartment in the community of McKees Rocks, near Pittsburgh, because she would not stop crying.
#BREAKING: Ariden Jackson just turned himself in at Allegheny County PD. He surrendered at 12:05. He’s facing a criminal homicide charge in the death of his daughter. More details tonight at 5 on @KDKA pic.twitter.com/lG1NlIWINo
— MEGHAN SCHILLER (@MeghanKDKA) April 18, 2019
“He continued to explain that [Janiya] messed her diaper when he tried to feed her a bottle, and she kept turning her head away and the neighbor’s music was very loud,” said the complaint, reported the Post Gazette.
“Jackson stated he was frustrated, angry and unfortunately took it out on [Janiya],” said the complaint.
Police say doctors called the injuries life-threatening and “likely to cause long-term developmental disability.” Court documents indicate Jackson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and child and reckless endangerment.
Girl shaken as baby dies nearly 14 years later; father charged with homicide https://t.co/R622JkF7xn pic.twitter.com/IlSbHytgHj
— Boston Informer (@boston_informer) April 18, 2019
Police say that the now-13-year-old girl died in February of “complications of a seizure disorder resulting from remote abusive head trauma.” The death was ruled homicide.
Jackson told police in May 2005 that he shook 4-week-old Janiya three times in an apartment in the community of McKees Rocks, outside Pittsburgh, because she would not stop crying, authorities said in a criminal complaint.
Jackson, then 23, said he had been trying to feed the child as his wife napped, and “stated he was frustrated, angry and unfortunately took it out” on the girl, according to the complaint.
Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at the time called the injuries life-threatening and “likely to cause long-term developmental disability,” according to the criminal complaint.
Jackson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and child and reckless endangerment and was sentenced to five to 10 years, court documents indicate. He was released in 2016 after serving 10 years, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Detectives say this is where Ariden Jackson lives in Edgewood- on Jane Street. Neighbors tell me they last saw him here on Monday, picking up trash out front. @KDKA pic.twitter.com/JxqH5pMqZw
— MEGHAN SCHILLER (@MeghanKDKA) April 17, 2019
The Associated Press and Epoch Times reporter Venus Upadhayaya contributed to this report.
