A 10-month-old girl is in the hospital after her mother’s boyfriend allegedly shook her when she wouldn’t stop crying during the night.
Cody Ryan Rigg, 20, of Exeter, faces three felony counts of assault and one misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child after the July 3 incident, according to court documents.
Around 7:30 p.m., Rigg allegedly ‘grabbed (the victim) by her neck and started to shake her for about 10 seconds,’ he told police in an interview on July 7.
After taking X-rays, a doctor determined the victim had a brain bleed, four fractured ribs that appeared to be healing and large bruises on her face, neck and back.
During the interview, Rigg said the infant was crying in her crib, ‘which was actually a large white laundry basket,’ police said.
He told police that the victim stopped crying and ‘he checked to see if she was okay.’
When the victim’s mother returned to the house around at 6 a.m. on July 4, she checked on the children and went to sleep, according to police.
Rigg then allegedly told her, ‘something was wrong with her daughter,’ around 11:45 a.m.; more than 12 hours after he allegedly shook the child.
Rigg told investigators that bruises appeared on the victim about 40 minutes after the alleged shaking incident, police said.
When the victim’s mother called 911 around 1 p.m. on the fourth, she told dispatchers, ‘the victim was barely breathing, breathing weird like wheezing, was kicked in the face yesterday and reported her daughter has black and blue marks under her chin. She also said her daughter was limp and unresponsive,’ police said in the affidavit of probable cause.
The kicking incident the woman referenced happened earlier on July 3 and, until she spoke with a doctor at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, the woman believed that was the cause of the baby’s problems.
While in the car at a gas station on July 3, a toddler kicked the victim in the face, according to police.
The extent of the baby’s injuries, according to the doctor, were consistent with the signs of Shaking Baby Syndrome.
The treating physician told police ‘the victim is in critical condition and that she is not positive the 10-month-old child will survive,’ police said.
A call to the Berks County Detectives Unit for an update on the victim was not returned.
To treat her injuries, doctors inserted a tube into the baby’s skull, ‘to alleviate pressure from the brain which was swelling.’
Rigg was arraigned on July 8 and is confined to the Berks County Prison on $500,000 monetary bail. He is expected in court again on July 16 at 1:30 p.m.
