Brighton Heights man charged in infant daughter's death

Allegheny County police arrested a Brighton Heights man Thursday in connection with the death of his 1-month-old daughter.

Joseph Swidorsky, 30, is charged with homicide and endangering the welfare of a child.

Paramedics rushed Braelyn Swidorsky to Allegheny General Hospital on June 15 when she became unresponsive in a West View home.

Swidorsky told police that he was giving his daughter a bath when she began turning blue. He said she was crying so hard she stopped breathing, according to a criminal complaint.

Braelyn's mother was in another room with her other daughter when Swidorsky was bathing the infant.

Braelyn was transferred to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, where she died June 18.

Doctors determined the cause of death to be blunt-force trauma to the head.

A doctor who examined the baby at Children's told police Braelyn's injuries were likely “inflicted by another and not by anything Braelyn could or would do to herself accidentally,” according to the complaint.

While at the hospital, a witness overheard Swidorsky say that “Braelyn is a psycho baby and does nothing but cry all the time,” police allege in the complaint.

When another witness asked him if he had dropped the baby, he said, “Maybe I put her down too hard when I did CPR,” the complaint states.

Swidorsky was awaiting arraignment Thursday night. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

Tony Raap is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7827 or traap@tribweb.com.