Dad charged in baby's death

BELLE VERNON - A 24-year-old Grindstone father has been charged in the death of his 3-month-old daughter in Fayette County.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed with District Justice Jesse Cramer in Belle Vernon, Ryan Wayne Workman, of 1028 West Second St., faces a criminal homicide charge in the death of his daughter. Alexis Workman died Tuesday night.

Cramer arraigned Workman this morning and sent him to the Fayette County Jail without bond.

Alexis was admitted to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Monday. She initially was listed in critical condition with a skull fracture and retinal hemorrhaging, according to the affidavit.

Workman told hospital personnel he was watching the child Sunday and noticed she was bleeding from the mouth as she was sitting in a swing, the affidavit states.

Workman said the girl was not breathing, the affidavit noted.

After contacting 911, Workman performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the infant until medical personnel arrived.

Brenda Lee Lackner, Alexis Workman's maternal grandmother, told police that Ryan Workman picked up his daughter from her house Sunday, a few hours before the incident, and that the father "never mentioned anything to me about her bleeding from her mouth or being in any type of poor condition."

Workman told police he had picked up his daughter and pulled his car over to check on her because she was "cranky and crying."

Workman said his daughter was "fine, but had some blood around her mouth," the affidavit states.

Workman stated that, upon arriving home about 30 minutes later, his daughter continued to cry and prior to removing her from the car, he "forcibly shook the car seat with his daughter in it," according to the affidavit.

The infant continued to cry after Workman took her inside the house and placed her in her swing.

After she cried for another 15 to 25 minutes, Workman said he removed her from the swing and shook her again.

About an hour later, he checked Alexis again and found her to be unconscious and not breathing. Blood was coming from her mouth, according to the affidavit.

After police interviewed Workman, they contacted Child Advocacy Center Division Chief Janet E. Squires, who said the child's injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

Shaken baby syndrome is the term used to describe the signs and symptoms resulting from a child being shaken.

Violently shaking an infant or toddler can force the head to whip back and forth, causing blood vessels in the brain and eyes to rip and bleed. The motion also can cause the brain to move and bounce against the skull.

The shaking can result in brain damage, speech and learning disabilities, paralysis, seizures, hearing loss and death.

Last year in the United States, 1,200 to 1,400 children were shaken and required medical treatment, according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. Of these, 25 percent to 30 percent died as a result of their injuries, the center said.

The affidavit states that the Alexis Workman's skull fracture "would have occurred from the victim being struck in the head or having her head hit something hard."

Police interviewed Workman again and he submitted a written statement, admitting to shaking his daughter.

He told police, "After I shook my daughter, I dropped her back into the swing. The drop was approximately two feet. It was from my chin level into the swing seat. The swing is made of hard plastic."

Alexis Workman was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was head injuries.

Tribune-Review reporter Bob Stiles contributed to this article.