Trial set in baby-shaking case
WAYNESBURG – The Franklin Township man accused of violently shaking his infant son earlier this month, causing head injuries to the baby, was held for court Tuesday as the child remains in intensive care at a West Virginia hospital.
District Judge Glenn Bates ordered Trent Buchanan, 23, 126 Fourth St., to stand trial following his preliminary hearing on charges of aggravated assault, child endangerment, simple assault and reckless endangerment in the Nov. 10 incident that injured 3-month-old Cameron Buchanan.
Cameron remains in the pediatric intensive care unit at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown after suffering skull fractures and other injuries, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper William Brown said.
“He is doing a little bit better, but he’s still in the (pediatric intensive care unit),” Brown said Tuesday.
Brown was the only person to testify during the preliminary hearing, discussing the incident, severity of the child’s injuries and relaying what Buchanan told investigators when they interviewed him Nov. 11 at the hospital. Buchanan told police he was feeding the child with a bottle when the boy began choking.
Buchanan said he then picked up the boy, shook him and then struck his back and head in an attempt to get him to begin breathing again, police said.
Doctors told police the injuries were typical of “shaken baby syndrome” and that the boy may have suffered brain injuries.
Buchanan was watching the baby alone while the child’s mother, Cori Scott, 25, ran errands. The child was not breathing when she returned home and she attempted to perform CPR until an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital, police said.
His public defender, Patrick Fitch, declined to comment on the case but said the baby is “doing better.”
Buchanan remains in Greene County jail on $25,000 bond.
His formal arraignment has not yet been scheduled.