The prognosis is poor for a 3-month-old girl to survive a violent shaking inflicted by her father over the July 4 weekend at the family's central Minnesota home, according to charges filed Monday.
Andrew D. Erickson, 26, of Garrison, was charged in Crow Wing District Court with first-degree assault and malicious punishment of a child in connection with the baby's severe head injuries.
"It is unlikely that [the baby] will survive the injuries caused by Erickson," the criminal complaint read, adding that Erickson admitted to shaking the baby nine or 10 times.
Erickson appeared in court Monday and remains jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail ahead of his next hearing on Thursday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
A sheriff's deputy arrived about 9:30 p.m. on July 3 after a report a baby girl was having trouble breathing. The girl was admitted to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, where a nurse said the baby's injuries were not consistent with Erickson's contention that the child fell during a diaper change.
Medical records indicated that the girl had an extensive brain injury and various injuries to her spine.
The baby's mother told a sheriff's investigator that she and her two sisters spent July 3 swimming and relaxing before they went to Brainerd to socialize. Erickson was left to look after the baby girl and her two siblings, one of the sister's children and another child the sister was looking after.
Erickson called the mother that night, she said, and said their baby daughter was "breathing funny and acting weird."
The mother arrived home as her daughter was being put in an ambulance.
Erickson at first told a sheriff's investigator that he dropped the baby. When pressed further, he said he may have shaken the child five or six times before dropping her. He then put the count at closer to nine of 10 times.
As of Monday morning, the baby remained on life support at Children's Hospital.
Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.
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