Mom accused of shaking 5-week-old son

The woman is charged with first-degree aggravated child abuse. The baby is on life support.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published June 10, 2005

WESLEY CHAPEL - At first, the mother told authorities that she didn't know how, after spending all day with her 5-week-old son, he ended up in critical condition at a Tampa hospital with skull fractures.

Three days later, after again denying knowing anything about her son's injuries, she told investigators that the infant might have hit his head on a kitchen counter top.

And the genital bruising? Maybe it happened by accident, she said, while she changed his diaper.

It was no accident, authorities said; it was shaken baby syndrome.

Now the boy's mother, 26-year-old Sherry Beth Bossick, is in the Pasco County jail charged with first-degree aggravated child abuse.

"Doctors believe the injuries appear to be from nonaccidental trauma," said sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin. "That means it was some type of intentional action."

The victim, whose name was not released, has been on life support since Saturday in the pediatric intensive care unit at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.

The baby's twin brother, and a 5-year-old boy in the house, who both were not identified by authorities, were examined by the child protection team. There was a bruise on the twin that couldn't be explained, Tobin said, and both children were turned over to relatives.

Shaken baby syndrome describes the injuries suffered by infants or small children who are violently shaken or suffer severe head trauma.

The damage suffered by the infant might affect him for the rest of his life.

"The prognosis from the doctors is poor for survival without (having) extensive brain damage," Tobin said.

If the baby dies, Tobin said, then the woman probably would face more charges.

According to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome in Utah, 20 percent of SBS victims die "in the first few days" after being injured. The majority of victims must deal with issues ranging from behavioral problems and learning disorders to retardation and paralysis. Some victims are left in a vegetative state.

The baby's father, 30-year-old Thomas Lydic, discovered the injured infant at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the Sheriff's Office, while the mother was out buying diapers.

"The father went in to the crib and saw that the child was limp and crying," Tobin said.

The father called 911. The baby was taken to East Pasco Medical Center, then flown to Tampa.

Several doctors examined the baby, according to a Sheriff's Office report, and found skull fractures, subdural hematomas (torn blood vessels in the brain), retinal hemorrhages (torn blood vessels in the eye) and bruising, including the genitals.

The boy has visible injuries on his head, right eyelid, inner right thigh, under his left ear and near his jaw line, Tobin said.

Investigators first spoke to the mother on Sunday, the report said, but though she said she spent Saturday with him, denied knowing anything. She was arrested Wednesday after a followup interview.

Bossick, of 27241 Dayflower Blvd., has no record of previous arrests in Florida. She is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

-- Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

[Last modified June 10, 2005, 01:11:19]