Deaf Caretaker Charged With Battery To Infant

From: Chicago Sun-Times - Apr 1, 2010

A deaf West Side woman was charged with aggravated battery to a child Thursday for allegedly shaking and squeezing an infant she was caring for earlier this month.

Angela Harris, 47, of 5200 block of West Quincy, was charged early Thursday after police questioned her through a sign-language interpreter, police said.

On March 13, a 7-month-old boy was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston for breathing problems and a swollen head. He was later transferred to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, a police report said.

The baby was diagnosed with several fractures: at least three on the skull, two ribs which police said were healing, the left wrist, right femur, right tibia and left tibia (two), according to the report.

The child also had several new and old brain bleeds (subdural hematomas) and retinal hemorrhaging consistent with and indicative of shaken baby syndrome, the report said.

Harris was identified as a household member and caretaker for the victim, according to the report.

She was taken voluntarily to Grand Central Area headquarters where she allegedly demonstrated on a doll what she had done to the victim -- shaking him and grabbing the victim by the wrist, pulling him up from a bed and aggressively squeezing him, the report said.

Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.

@ 2010 Sun-Times