McKeesport man accused of shaking infant son, causing severe injuries

A McKeesport man who police said was exasperated with his crying infant son and frustrated that he had to look after him is accused of shaking the infant so hard that his brain bled.

A criminal complaint filed Wednesday said Michael Barber, 29, gave witnesses and police several different explanations on how the 5-month-old boy suffered the injuries, including that his toddler dropped the infant, his toddler fell on the infant and that he fell while carrying the infant.

Paramedics and police responded to the Harrison Village housing complex around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday for a report of an unresponsive infant. The child was taken to Children’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with varying degrees and types of brain bleeding, according to the criminal complaint. Police said Thursday that the boy remained in critical condition.

The woman who had called 911, a neighbor of Barber’s with first-aid training, said Barber brought the unresponsive infant to her home for help. She said the child’s limbs were cold and he was not breathing, according to the complaint. She performed rescue breathing and CPR until paramedics arrived.

The woman said Barber first told her he didn’t know what happened but then said the boy’s toddler sister had dropped him, police wrote.

The boy’s mother told police the child was fine when she left the home around 10 p.m., according to the complaint. She said she left the child in Barber’s care.

Police said Barber admitted that his initial version of events — that the boy’s sister had dropped or fell on him — was a lie. He then said he tripped and fell while carrying the boy, and the child’s head hit the floor despite his efforts to cushion the blow, the complaint said.

Detectives told Barber a fall could not have caused his son’s injuries, according to the complaint. They wrote that Barber initially stuck to his story but eventually said he had shaken him because he wouldn’t stop crying, according to the complaint.

Barber said he shook the child two times, demonstrating as much for the detectives. He said he’d been frustrated for a while with “always being left to care for his two children,” investigators wrote.

Barber is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of reckless endangerment and child endangerment. He remained in Allegheny County Jail on Thursday, unable to post $10,000 bail. Court records did not list an attorney. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12.