A Detroit-area man has been charged with felony homicide after allegedly shaking a 1-year-old girl to death.
Roseville, Michigan, police say the Dec. 17 incident was non-accidental and arrested Dennis Wayne Justus, 28, on Jan. 14. He was arraigned on Jan. 18.
Melissa Hartley, the girl’s mother, claimed in an interview with FOX 2 Detroit that the suspect shook the girl so hard that her corneas detached from her head and caused hematomas, or internal bruises caused by internal bleeding, behind her eyes.
Dennis Wayne Justus (Roseville Police Department and Macomb Sheriff’s Office)
“How can you shake a baby that hard?” she told the outlet. “This wasn’t an accident.”
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Hartley left her daughter with Justus, her roommate and long-time family friend, on the morning of Dec. 17 when she left for work. About half an hour after starting her shift at the hospital, she received a call saying her daughter was unresponsive, according to FOX 2.
1-year-old Michigan girl. (Credit: Melissa Hartley)
The infant was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment but eventually succumbed to her injuries, according to police.
“I just want justice for my daughter,” Hartley told FOX 2. “I truly trusted [Justus] and I thought he was genuinely a good person. I didn’t want to believe it. I still don’t want to believe it.”
1-year-old Michigan girl. (Credit: Melissa Hartley)
Patrick Donohue, founder of the Brain Injury Rights Group, suspects that the shaking must have been extensive if it caused fatal injures to a 1-year-old child, as babies around a year old have more neck muscle strength than newborns and months-old infants.
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Brain injuries are “one of the leading causes of death and disability for infants,” Donohue — whose own daughter suffered life-altering injuries after a baby nurse shook her in 2005 — told Fox News Digital.
Brain injury-related deaths in infants are entirely avoidable, Donohue said.
1-year-old Michigan girl. (Credit: Melissa Hartley)
“If a baby is crying, and you’re not in the right mental state, walk away,” Donohue said. “Babies don’t die because they cry. You may have a baby that’s crying, and if an adult is not in the right mental frame, they feel like they have to do something, but the best thing is to walk away and then come back.”
Prosecutors authorized an arrest warrant for Justus for involuntary manslaughter, which is a felony that can carry up to 15 years in prison. He is currently being held on $300,000 bond.
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“I just want to know why he did this. Like, what was it? I don’t care how frustrated you get. That is not a reason to shake a baby,” Hartley told FOX 2. “I want to know how it got to that point, and I may never get those answers.”
There are close to 1,500 brain injury deaths among babies per year, Donohue said, but he estimates that number may be higher due to brain injuries that are not severe enough to be detected.
