A Grand Rapids man is accused of brutally killing his girlfriend's one-year-old baby while babysitting. According to court records, the man slammed the baby onto the floor out of frustration leading to his death. According to MI Live, Grand Rapids Police responded to the report of a baby not breathing at a unit in Weston Apartments on Saturday, February 5, just after 9 am.
The baby, Alexander Butler was found unconscious and was rushed to DeVos Children's Hospital, where he was declared dead just before 10 am. Significant bruising was found on the child's head along with other marks on his face, chest, and back.
Kent County prosecutors noted on Monday that the unnamed 23-year-old man, who is the baby's mother's boyfriend was charged with murder and first-degree child abuse. He is due to be arraigned in Grand Rapids District Court.
'I got upset...'
According to police, the baby's mother left for work about 5:45 am on Saturday, leaving the baby with the boyfriend. The man, who is not the baby's father, gave multiple 'conflicting statements' about the incident to the police initially. "I got upset and accidentally did the wrong thing," he eventually said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the man said that he got upset while babysitting and eventually picked the child while he was on his knees, brought the baby to his shoulder height, and slammed him on the floor. He did it two (or three) times, police noted in the affidavit.
The man then told the police that the baby became unresponsive so he splashed water on his face and even attempted chest compressions and tried blowing in his mouth to wake him up. When he didn't budge, the boyfriend put him in the crib.
'The baby's lips were purple and his skin was white'
The boyfriend then left the apartment for a while and came back with another person he knew. He then proceeded to place the baby in a pack-and-play when he and the person with him noticed that the baby's 'lips were purple and his skin was white.' The other person then checked the baby but couldn't find a pulse.
Police said that it was then that the boyfriend called 911. The cause of the baby's death was determined to be craniocerebral trauma by a medical examiner. "Just the fussiness, and the crying, and the irritability of...and the factor of not having he help here," the boyfriend ranted about the situation with the baby during an interview with the police.
The identities of the man or the baby's mother were not clear at the moment.
