Cops: Fayette County parents charged after infant found to have 13 fractures
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An examination at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh last month revealed an infant boy from Fayette County suffered 13 fractures throughout his body, state police in Uniontown allege in court documents filed Friday.
After a two-week investigation, troopers charged the boy’s parents, John T. Clark, 29, and Tiffany L. Clark, 31, of Connellsville Township, with dozens of counts of aggravated assault, child endangerment, reckless endangerment and simple assault.
Trooper Kristina Daerr reported that the Clarks initially took the child to their local physician for an examination May 29 after he began “fussing” in his car seat and they noticed his arm was “drooping.” Daerr said the doctor recommended the Clarks take their son to the Pittsburgh hospital.
“A skeletal scan was conducted at UPMC Children’s Hospital and revealed the victim had multiple fractures at different stages of healing,” Daerr wrote in court documents.
In addition to a fracture and displacement to the humerus bone in the infant’s left arm, Daerr said, the scan showed the infant suffered prior fractures to bones in his right and left legs, four ribs, and both feet that were healing.
The mother told Daerr that her husband was dressing their son on a couch in their home May 29 and he turned around to grab some clothing “and the victim scooted himself off the couch with his legs and fell to the ground,” Daerr reported.
John Clark gave troopers an identical account during a separate interview, police said.
“Tiffany Clark did not know how the other injuries would have been received,” Daerr wrote.
Daerr said the investigation disclosed the only people with access to the child have been the Clarks.
The hospital’s child advocacy center assisted in the investigation, police said.
Online court documents filed before Connellsville District Judge Ron Haggerty on Friday indicated that neither parent had been arraigned.