Quentin Brown Violently Shakes and Critically Injures his Two-Month-Old Son
In Denver, Quentin Brown, 21, critically injured his two-month-old son by shaking him in attempt to stop him from crying. Brown has been charged with felony child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. The baby shows signs of Shaken Baby syndrome and remains in critical condition. He reportedly is clinging to life.
Brown told police that he woke up to the crying of his son. He then took the baby out of his crib, and shook him twice, lifting the child in a way that caused his head to jerk violently.
Yes, that’s a great way to calm a crying baby. Did this guy ever think that maybe the child needed to be changed or fed?
Denver Department of Human Services placed another child in Brown’s household with family members. That child showed no signs of child abuse.
Brown’s bond has been set at $25,000. If convicted of child abuse, Brown faces up to 12 years in prison. If the baby dies, he’ll probably get a life term. Good.
Tags: baby, child-abuse, denver, Quentin-Brown, shaken-baby-syndromeRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Uncategorized
11 opinions for Quentin Brown Violently Shakes and Critically Injures his Two-Month-Old Son
raynesmom
Apr 15, 2007 at 1:11 pm
At the risk of sounding like a cold-hearted witch…What an a-hole! A 2 month olds ONLY way of communicating his needs is CRYING. I wonder how this guy would feel if he got the crap beaten out of him for asking to use the bathroom!
Robot B9
Apr 15, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Common sense lesson with crying babies:
If they do not have dirty diaper or rash
If they are not hungry or need to be burped
If they can not be distracted from crying with a toy, funny sounds or a gentle touch
Take two index fingers (yours) and stick them firmly in your ears for 5 minutes.
If after 5 minutes the baby is still crying go find help.
Kathy
Apr 16, 2007 at 4:28 am
i think the best advice that can be given to any parent is, If your baby is crying inconsolably and you have reached your wits end, put the baby in a safe place and walk away.
Gather your wits, calm down and call someone for help. If the baby is not obviously wet, hungry or in pain, you may want to get another adult to help out for sec. If all else fails take the baby to the emergency room to rule out any problems that you can’t see. Its better to take the baby in and have it be nothing more than colic, than to wait until after you have shaken the crap out of the baby and end up hurting a defenseless baby. If this is something you can’t do, then maybe you should have thought about that BEFORE you decided to bring a life into this world.
*sigh* Its seems so obvious…
Chris, a mother of four so far
Apr 16, 2007 at 1:22 pm
My firstborn could be quite the screamer when she was a baby and had a really clingy personality and while there were times where I felt like I was at my wits end I never once thought of shaking her. I did have to put her in her crib a few times and just let her holler so that I could get a break but even that is better than permanently damaging the baby.
I thought all parents and child caregivers knew by now that you are never supposed to shake a baby. Sadly, in spite of education, there are still cases like this.
Winter
Apr 17, 2007 at 4:22 am
I have always had a hard time with this…
What makes a person think that picking up a child and shaking them will make them stop crying?
Nikki
Apr 17, 2007 at 11:27 am
hey Kathy, Your advice is perfect. I was a teenaged mom with AWFUL PMS. I had my oldest at 18. For the most part she was a good baby, BUT when she cried….SHE CRIED! I was REQUIRED to attend parenting class in exchange for low-cost, good quality child care. One of the first things I remember learning was what to feed her (nutritionally sound foods) and to “STOP, PLACE AND WALK AWAY”. If she started, I would place her in her crib (with the sides up of course) close the door and walk away. I remember once she had been crying for almost an hour! She was fed and dry. She was about 5-6 months old. I had taken her outside for a walk. We live in florida and it was a nice evening. She just kept crying. I was so frustrated. I started crying! I put her in the crib and I sat on the stairs outside our apartment. I could still hear her crying! I peeked in her window and she was looking at the door,as if she were looking for me. I sat outside another 5 minutes or so. I knew she was crying but she was safe. I knew that her immediate needs were met. I just needed to regroup! I chilled for a few and tuned her out. When I went back inside she seemd relieved to see me. I picked her up and she cried some more but after a while she relaxed. I think because I had gotten so worked up she was responding to my stress. But because of the classes i had taken I knew that it was OK to leave her in the crib. I think some people are under the impression that if the baby cries they must make him stop right then! It is ok if the baby cries. Once you are SURE they are fine (ie fed, dry, not hurt, not in danger) then the baby can cry a little. It’s how they express themselves. Just like we have a bad day so do they! Heck sometimes I wish I could just scream or cry just because! I had 3 more kids after Jaz and those classes have taken us a long way. She is 17 and NOT a teenaged mom headed for college, with a 3.6 GPA and a star basketball player. She still gets her “funk on” (little attitude). I think that’s who she is. But I know I did the right thing. None of the kids in my home have been abused as I was. NOT all abusers abuse! I am thankful that I learned to walk away. My 2nd and 3rd kid were SCREAMERS from day 1. and I did the same thing I learned as a teen mom. Bottom line is that it’s ok to WALK AWAY AND REGROUP! THE BABY WON’T DIE IF YOU LET THEM CRY A LITTLE! HOWEVER THE BABY WILL DIE IF YOU SHAKE HIM!
P.S. MY HOUSE IS VERY NOISEY! 2 SCREAMERS! AND NOW THEY HAVE LOUD FRIENDS HAHAHA ….REMEDY: MOM GOES IN HER ROOM FOR SOME PEACE AND QUIET AND LETS DAD SUPERVISE!!!!!
Renee
Apr 17, 2007 at 11:38 am
Hasn’t there been enough dicussion yet as to what shaking a baby can do to them? How can people continue to exibit such ignorant and abusive behavior? And oh yeah - shaking the hell out of a baby is the perfect way to make it stop crying, Isn’t it? What makes these abusers that beat, shake, slap etc. their kids to make them stop crying think that hurting them is going to have that effect. I hope someone in prison “shakes” him for what he has done.
nicole
Apr 19, 2007 at 4:51 pm
how sick!
This happened to my baby cousin, at around the same age. HIs father a man named Jean.S. Carle shook him until he had broken leg, ribs and skull. And got 4 months in jail. This man now has another baby. Absolutley sickening!
Teresa
Apr 22, 2007 at 10:05 pm
There are plenty of truly vile examples of horrific child abuse on this site, but I think shaking a baby is more likely a response of frustration, rather than vicious cruelty. Not that this makes it okay to shake a baby, of course. I’m just saying that everybody’s got their breaking point, and a baby’s incessant screaming is a real stress-maker. Nikki (above) has the right idea-walk away for 10 or 15 minutes, after placing the baby in the crib. That’s a simple technique which should be told to ALL new parents. Also, new parents should be told that the screaming of a small baby is one of the most nerve-shattering sounds on Earth, and it goes on and on and on. It really does seem like the kid is NEVER GOING TO SHUT UP, and it causes a huge spike of adrenaline in most people, especially if they’re new to this parenting thing. Well, it sort of makes sense for a baby’s cry to get an immediate and intense response from us. It’s nature’s way of making sure that this otherwise helpless little person is going to be taken care of, not ignored. Unfortunately, it’s easy to find yourself in a position where you feel trapped in the house/apartment with this little screaming meemie. Then your unconscious mind starts interpreting this big jolt of adrenaline as a signal that there is danger of some sort to be dealt with. Without consciously working it out, some part of your mind starts viewing the source of the nerve-wracking noise as a threat. You might feel compelled to quiet that awful noise RIGHT NOW, whatever way you can. I think any parent will agree, the first time you are faced with that nonstop screaming, you feel a kind of panic kicking in. That scary feeling can easily be translated into rage/frustration/loss of control. Personally, I remember that feeling all too well, and I think they should make more parenting classes available to everyone. People need to be told that they can expect to feel such things, and it doesn’t make them a bad person. They need to be told some simple things they can do-like putting the baby down and walking away-to keep from losing their minds, and their self-control. If everyone was taught this before they had kids, there’d be a lot fewer cases of shaken baby syndrome.
Caymen
Apr 23, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I just gotta say they need to give a parent i.q. test to all the expecing parents and the ones that fail miserably need to be sterilized for life. Babies CRY that’s what they do, unless you can teach you baby how to talk at birth that’s just a growing pain you have to deal with that never seems to stop all their lives. Babies cry, Kids cry, Teens cry, Adults cry. It’s a never- ending cycle the only things is we know how to communicate. I can’t believe these parents are so careless these days after all the studies doctors and scientists have done to better child care. Thank God these people don’t work at Daycares.
rockdoll_71
Dec 7, 2007 at 12:54 am
Again, another story where the parent is under the age of 25. I’m not saying that there are not bad parents who are older but it sure seems like we hear a lot more stories like this one where the “parent” is very young.
You must log in to post a comment.