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Baby on Life Support After Being Shaken by Dad, Officials Say

By Tom Liddy | May 31, 2012 12:42pm
A 2-month-old girl was fighting for her life after allegedly being shaken by her father at their Jackson Heights home.
A 2-month-old girl was fighting for her life after allegedly being shaken by her father at their Jackson Heights home.
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DNAinfo/Theodore Parisienne

QUEENS — A 2-month-old Elmhurst girl is on life support after her father violently shook her — for three minutes in one case — when she refused to stop crying, authorities said.

Israel Garcia, 27, was charged with first degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child for the alleged incidents at his home on 41st Avenue, near 95th street, and held without bail at his arraignment Wednesday night, according to the office of Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

According to officials, Garcia came home from work one day in early May frustrated and tired and heard his daughter crying.

He allegedly grabbed the child, squeezed her torso and shook her up and down.  According to prosecutors, he believed he had injured the girl's ribs, but did nothing.

Then on May 28, the suspect allegedly shook his daughter, who started to cry when she woke up from a nap, for three minutes.

When he noticed that the baby stopped breathing, he tried to revive her and called 911.

At Elmhurst Hospital, doctors found that the girl was suffering from bleeding on the brain, retinal bleeding, brain injuries, rib fractures and bruises, officials said.

"Despite increased efforts by medical and law enforcement personnel to educate the public on the dangers of shaking a baby, we are still seeing far too many cases of children dying or being permanently disabled," Brown said in a statement.

A 2004 state law requires hospitals to show new parents a video on the dangers of shaking babies and the Queens DA's office has held conferences on the condition.