Sean Michael Wheeler, 23, Channelview, Texas, has been accused of causing fatal injury to a 5-week-old baby. Photo via lckidwell at SXC Photo
A Channelview, Texas, man has been charged with felony injury to a child – shaken baby syndrome.
According to court documents, on Wednesday 5-week-old Dylan Lockhard was brought to Jacinto Methodist Hospital in Baytown by his mother and her live-in boyfriend, 23-year-old Sean Michael Wheeler. The baby was unresponsive and although the medical staff attempted CPR, the baby was pronounced dead. According to the Harris County Institute for Forensic Sciences, the baby died from subdural hemorrhaging on the brain and blunt force injury to the back of the head.
ABC News reports that the doctors called police after they noticed numerous bruises on the baby’s body.
According to investigators, the mother told them that the baby was crying and that Wheeler agreed to take care of him while she slept. Wheeler said he would take the baby for a car ride to help him fall asleep.
According to the complaint, Wheeler returned a short time later and the mother picked the baby up and noticed that he was limp and cold. She then rushed him to the hospital.
Wheeler, who is not the baby’s father, denied injuring or shaking the baby. According to investigators, he said that he drove the child to “the duck pond near the bottom,” an area commonly known by locals as Bear Lake.
Investigators state that Wheeler said that while he was driving around with the baby, the baby would alternately cry and then stop. Wheeler says that at one point when the baby had become quiet he stopped to check on him and noticed he was breathing funny. He says that was when he brought the baby home to his mother. He admits he was the only person that was with the baby when he stopped breathing. Wheeler reportedly denies knowing how the baby received the bruises.
The baby’s death has been ruled a homicide.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Wheeler has prior convictions for burglary of a vehicle, assault on a family member, interfering with an emergency telephone call and possession of marijuana, according to court records. His bail has been set at $50,000.
Sources: ABC News, Houston Chronicle
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