Man who recorded infant son's injuries clams up on witness stand

A man who recorded a video of his infant son's injuries that police contend the boy's mother inflicted had little to say at the start of her trial Tuesday.

Authorities charged Dalishia Salter, 25, of Wilkinsburg with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and other offenses, saying she beat Daviere Bryant, then 11 months old, and left him on her trash-strewn porch the night of Sept. 12, 2014.

She sent angry text messages to the boy's father, telling him to retrieve the child, police said.

David Bryant recorded a video that showed his son with two black eyes and a bloody nose, and he posted the recording on Facebook. The boy was whimpering and sitting in a car seat on the cluttered porch. Bryant can be heard on the video shouting at Salter.

“We're here because a little boy, 11 months old, was badly beaten and left outside in the trash — not with the trash, but in the trash — at 11:30 at night in Wilkinsburg,” Assistant District Attorney Dan Gleixner said in his opening statement to the jury. “(On Bryant's video), Dalishia Salter could not care less. She makes it very clear that she hurt that child, that she did it on purpose, that she did it to hurt David Bryant and she did not care.”

Bryant's video was viewed 70,000 times and generated dozens of comments before it was removed. Gleixner said he planned to play it for the jury.

A few minutes into his testimony as the prosecution's first witness, Bryant asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when Gleixner asked him about finding Daviere on the porch.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara excused the jury from the courtroom. Bryant's attorney, Brandon Herring, said his client was concerned he could be charged again with endangering Daviere based on his testimony.

Gleixner said a district judge dismissed child endangerment charges against Bryant, who served time after pleading guilty to breaking into Salter's home and assaulting her after he found Daviere. To address Bryant's concern that he might be charged again because he didn't immediately address his son's injuries, the District Attorney's Office gave him immunity. He is set to return to the stand Wednesday.

Salter's attorney, Max Cotton, said his client told police Daviere was injured by a TV that fell from a nightstand when his parents were fighting.

Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-391-0927 or msantoni@tribweb.com.