Jackson County man charged with abuse, after baby suffers brain bleeds, bruises
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A Jackson County man is charged with child abuse after authorities found a 2-month-old in his care with a severe head injury and covered in bruises, records show.
Storm L. Sinclair, 23, of Independence, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next month. He initially told responding authorities Saturday morning that he was feeding the infant a bottle and when he went to burp him, the child “kicked” and that caused him to lose his grip, court records said. That resulted, he told first responders, in the baby “falling onto the floor.”
Staff at Children’s Mercy Hospital, where the infant was taken, said the injuries were not consistent with that type of fall.
“The doctors advised (that the infant) had ‘pattern bruising’ on his back, small bruises to his buttocks and bleeding in multiple areas of his brain,” said a court affidavit describing the charge against Sinclair. “The doctors advised (the infant’s) injuries were more extensive than falling from a bed and could come from shaking him, a series of hard blows, or being dropped from a ‘2 story window.’”
It is not clear, in court documents, what the current medical condition of the infant is. It is also not clear what relation the child is to Sinclair.
At around 7:15 a.m. Saturday, a Buckner police officer responded to a home in the 700 block of South Hudson Street to assist Fort Osage Emergency Medical Services.
The police officer noted that while in a bedroom of the home he observed that the infant was “not crying or moving around nor did he have his eyes open,” said Detective Alexandria Wilbanks Miller, with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, in her probable cause affidavit.
While the suspect “was providing his statement,” Miller wrote, the Buckner police officer said the man “kept stating ‘I’m sorry.’”
Hospital staff finds signs of abuse
At the hospital, Jackson County deputies spoke with doctors who said the 2-month-old infant “had bruises all over his head, entire face, left ear cartilage, his jaw, and blood in his nostrils. As well as bruises on his chest, abdomen, arms, and scrotal bruising.”
According to the court record, doctors said that “a fall from four feet or less could result in a skull fracture, but not a brain bleed.” The infant’s skull was not fractured, authorities said.
In a formal interview, Sinclair allegedly expanded on his previous statement and account of what happened, records show. He still said he was feeding the infant a bottle and when he went to burp him, the child “kicked” and that resulted in him falling to the floor.
“(Sinclair) advised he picked (the infant) up and thought he was choking so he struck him in the back with an open hand,” the court affidavit said. Sinclair then “advised at that point he laid (the infant) on the bed and struck him with a closed hammer fist in the abdomen one time.”
The suspect then told authorities that “he smacked (the infant) on the left side of the head” and he “advised he placed one hand on the (the infant’s) forehead and the other on the back of his head and shook his head from side to side as hard as he could,” the document said.
“(Sinclair) advised that, at the time of the incident, he was trying to harm” the infant, the court record alleged.
While at Children’s Mercy, the hospital’s Safety, Care & Nurturing (SCAN) team spoke with Sinclair, telling him about their findings of child abuse.
Sinclair reportedly stated, ‘I’m sorry I don’t know what to say,’ the affidavit said. The suspect, “also made comments about how he wants (the infant) to be a better man than he is, and he understands he probably won’t be in his life anymore.”
