The long-term brain function of a baby girl who police say was assaulted by her father in Woodbury is "still uncertain," according to court paperwork.
Benjamin Marshall, 21, appeared in court Monday on charges of first-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor. He posted $50,000 bond and was released from custody.
Last June, Marshall and the baby's mother took the girl, then 11 weeks old, to Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury. The doctor found a skull fracture and possible bleeding on the brain, but both Marshall and the child's mother at first denied the baby had fallen.
After medics flew the baby to Yale-New Haven Hospital, Marshall told police he had caught the baby in mid-air but she hit her head after falling from the changing table.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, "Marshall noticed he had received a snapchat on his cell phone and admitted he sometimes 'gets distracted' and may have looked at the phone for two to three minutes, while the baby remained unattended."
Police checked his cellphone and determined Marshall was on Snapchat at the time. They also found he had run four Google searches on the phone for "shaken baby syndrome."
"These injuries are extremely concerning for serious and life-threatening child abuse," said Dr. John Leventhal of Yale-New Haven Hospital, according to the affidavit.
But Dr. Ronald Uscinski of Maryland told police, "The events in this case are within the realm of possibility explaining the child's skull fracture and subdural hematoma."
The baby's name and home are secret by court order.
