Bristol father charged in death of baby son. What he told police
A Bristol Borough man has been charged in the "battered child" death of his infant son, telling police he had violently shaken the baby twice Wednesday. It wasn't the first time, either, police said.
Tyler Sullivan, 30, was arraigned Thursday morning on charges of homicide and two counts aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children. District Judge Frank Peranteau ordered him held without bail.
His 4-month old son, identified in court records as TS, was pronounced dead Thursday just after midnight at Lower Bucks Hospital. Emergency medical personnel brought the baby to the hospital after police and first responders were called to a home on Radcliffe Street for a child in cardiac arrest.
The baby, police said, died before arriving at the hospital despite efforts to resuscitate him.
Police said the child was not breathing and cold to the touch when they arrived to the home.
The doctor who examined the baby found he was blue and had bruises on his forehead and had "battle-sign bruising," as well as a bruise on his neck, his right thigh and lower eye. He also had head injuries and a cut on the right side of the nose.
The doctor said in his experience the baby's condition was "indicative of a battered child."
Sullivan told police he had violently shaken TS twice, once the morning of May 24 and again that night after giving him a bath, according to court documents. Sullivan said the bruising happened when he bumped the baby's head on the rocking chair previously and bumped his head on the bathtub Wednesday night while bathing the child, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Sullivan also said he had shaken his son six more times over the last six weeks, the documents allege.
The boy's mother was not charged, but told police that while her son was in the sole custody of Sullivan she noticed bruising on the child's body that was inconsistent with the defendant's explanations.
On her Facebook page, the woman says she is engaged to Sullivan and updated her photos with a picture of an infant in late February.
This is the second case this week involving alleged crimes against children.
For subscribers: Police say 7 siblings in Sellersville were terribly neglected. Why no one seemed to notice
In an unrelated case in Upper Bucks County, parents of seven siblings were charged with felony counts of endangering the welfare of children after police found the family living in squalor in a Sellersville mobile home.
The children were removed by child protective services, where they remain. Several of the children, ranging in age from four to 16, needed immediate medical attention and other critical services.
None of the siblings had ever attended school. All were found living in a three-bedroom mobile home in Sellersville with destroyed and disintegrating walls and floors, bugs and a locked refrigerator, according to authorities. All but one of the seven children was also clinically malnourished, according to court documents.
On Friday, the children’s parents, Shane William Robertson, 47, and his wife, Crystal, 37, were charged and are now out of custody after each posting 10% of $10,000 bail.
Sellersville children found in squalor: Bucks County parents of 7 charged. Sick kids living in filth, with rats, no food, police say
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bristol father Tyler Sullivan charged with killing baby son
