Prosecutors: Father admits to violently shaking 2-month-old
Infant hospitalized with brain bleed
A Warren man is being held in jail today after he allegedly admitted to police that he shook his infant child so hard, she suffered a brain injury.
Lonnie Aaron Lancaster Jr. was charged with firstdegree child abuse Wednesday in 37th District Court. If convicted on the charge, he faces up to life in prison.
Prosecutors say Lancaster’s 2-month-old daughter is hospitalized with what doctors are calling brain bleed, consistent with being violently shook.
“He admitted to police that is exactly what happened,” Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Laws said in court.
Brain bleed, or intracranial hemorrhage, is bleeding between the brain tissue and skull or within the brain tissue itself, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It can cause brain damage and be life-threatening, experts say.
WDIV-TV (Channel 4) reported the suspect’s mother also said he admitted to shaking the baby, but told her he is suffering from a “mental health situation” the family wasn’t aware of before this incident.
He also has a 2-year-old son and another child on the way, officials said.
Residents who live near Lancaster’s home on Cunningham Avenue, in the area of 10 Mile and Ryan roads, told the TV station that police had been dispatched to his residence in the past. The report didn’t indicate why officers were called to the house.
He was arrested at his home on Tuesday.
In court, Judge John Chmura set bond at $500,000 cash. If Lancaster is able to post bond, the judge ordered him to stay away his daughter and mother of his child.
“You stay away from those people, do you understand that,” Chmura said.
Lancaster quietly answered: “Yes sir.”
He is being held in the Macomb County Jail in Mount Clemens.