By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

A Brandon Township man has been charged with first degree child abuse after shaking his 3-month-old son, resulting in multiple injuries and possible loss of the baby’s sight.

Chance Erin James, 36, was arraigned on Aug. 6 by 52-2 District Court Magistrate Judith Holtz, with bond set in the amount of $250,000, cash surety, no 10 percent. He faces up to life in prison for the assault on his child, which resulted in subdural hematomas, retinal hemmorhaging of both eyes, a fractured tibia, and four fractured ribs. After a week in Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, the baby was released last Saturday.

“The baby will survive, but there is a high probability of sight issues, the possibility of blindness, and with a bleed in the brain, it’s difficult to tell the extent of that injury until he reaches school age,” said Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Greg Glover, Brandon substation commander. “We have a lot of cases of child abuse, many with criminal sexual conduct allegations, but it is rare out here to have a case like this with major long-term injuries.”

According to OCSO reports, the abuse occurred the evening of July 28, after the victim’s mother left the baby, as well as her 4-year-old son from a previous relationship, in the care of James at their mobile home in the 3800 block of Cherry while she went to work. When she returned several hours later she checked on both sleeping children and everything appeared fine.

The following day, the baby was fussy and vomited twice. His mother was supposed to go to work, but called in because James, who was to care for the children again, appeared intoxicated. The couple, who had dated as teenagers and reunited a year ago, argued that evening, and James allegedly slapped her across the face, and dragged her by her right arm from the living room to the bedroom. She wanted to leave, but he disabled her vehicle by removing a wire.

The baby’s mother told police on July 30 the baby was sleeping more than usual, and she attributed this to his fussiness the day before. At 6 p.m., she woke him for a feeding, and when changing him, saw two blood spots in his diaper, which was drier than it should have been. The child began having a seizure and she ran to get James, who was in the shower and began crying when he saw the baby. They took their son to McLaren Urgent Care in Clarkston, where staff called for an ambulance to transport the baby to Beaumont.

On July 31, a doctor there advised the mother her child had multiple injuries that were consistent with having been shaken. She asked James about it and he said he didn’t know anything.

The following morning, Aug. 1, James awakened the baby’s mother at the hospital and said he had something to tell her. He then said that on July 28, while she was at work, he had fallen asleep with the baby on his chest and woke up to find he was laying on top of the baby. He said he picked the baby up, but he was unresponsive and not breathing, so he shook him “very hard” and performed CPR.

Under questioning from police, James later admitted that he lost his temper and began to violently shake the baby and “shook the hell out of him” because the baby was crying and wouldn’t stop. When the baby did eventually stop crying, he laid him in his crib and didn’t tell anyone what had occurred until four days later.

He told police he had an alcohol problem and drinks almost daily. He is currently unemployed and the day of the incident began drinking after his girlfriend went to work, consuming a pint of liquor within a few hours.

James said he had previously dropped his son on his face a month ago when he was trying to give him a bottle and he kicked out of his arms and fell to the linoleum tile floor. He called his girlfriend and she came home from work, but the baby seemed fine after the fall and only had a small abrasion on the end of his nose.

During the conclusion of the police interview, James said he was never getting out of jail and doesn’t deserve to. His prior criminal history includes drunk driving arrests as well as a case that involved assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder.

“A lot of these (child abuse) cases are the result of drug and alcohol abuse and people having kids who shouldn’t be,” said Glover. “They can’t take care of themselves let alone a child. As a result of their own personal issues, their anger is directed at kids and on occasion, this is the result.”

Nearly four years ago, a similar case resulted in the death of a 4-month-old boy in the township. According to police reports, at about 2:30 p.m., Oct. 25, Brandon deputies and Brandon Fire Department personnel responded to the 300 block of Hidden Hills Lane for a 4-month-old male infant not breathing. The child did not survive and an autopsy concluded the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Donald Kyle Raleigh, 27, had been left to care for his girlfriend’s son while she was at work and in interviews with police, Raleigh made statements to police that the child was crying and he lost his patience, threw the baby on the floor, “and after he threw the child down, knew he screwed up and dropped the child a second time, on a concrete floor.”

An Oakland County jury deliberated less than an hour before convicting Raleigh of murder. He is serving a life sentence in prison.

According to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome (dontshake.org), there are 1,300 cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma every year in the United States. Most of these occur in babies under 6 months of age. One in four of these cases result in the death of the baby. Of the survivors of SBS, 80 percent suffer lifelong disabilities, which can include learning disabilities, physical disabilities, visual disabilities/blindness, hearing and speech impairment, cerebral palsy, seizures, behavior disorders and cognitive impairment.

According to NCSBS, “Child abuse, and specifically SBS/AHT, is prevented through parent/caregiver education classes about normal infant crying patterns, increased general public awareness, respite care for overwhelmed parents/caretakers, parents having a plan of action for when they become upset or exhausted while taking care of an infant/child, a parent putting the infant/child down in a safe place and walking away until they regain composure, parents/caregivers asking for help from family members or friends, and having the infant/child evaluatedby a doctor if there are concerns about the baby’s physical condition.”

In addition to the first degree child abuse charge, James is charged with domestic violence related to the July 29 argument with his girlfriend.

A probable cause conference for James has been scheduled for 9 a.m., Aug. 15, at the 52-2 District Court in Clarkston.