“He was beaten like a grown man.”
That’s how the grandmother of 1-year-old Kybrel described the horrifying incident that left the baby hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury, according to Pittsburgh news outlet WPXI... Continue reading here ▶
Kybrel was rushed to the hospital on November 23 after being found unresponsive in his mother’s Pittsburgh apartment. At the time, the child was in the care of his mother’s boyfriend, Lyndon Henderson, 24, who had been babysitting him, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WTAE.
The boy’s mother told authorities she had left Kybrel with Henderson while she went to work. When she returned home to check on her son, she found him unresponsive on the couch.
Doctors discovered that Kybrel had suffered a traumatic brain injury, a stroke, broken neck vertebrae, and multiple bruises. He was immediately placed on a ventilator due to severe brain swelling and lack of oxygen, WPXI reported. He is now in a medically induced coma and relies on a feeding tube.
Initially, Henderson was arrested and charged with assault, but those charges were upgraded to attempted homicide, according to Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh.
“My office will always seek justice for victims,” Walsh said in a statement. “Children are innocent and our most vulnerable, and I will prosecute offenders who commit crimes against them to the fullest extent of the law.”
Henderson claimed that Kybrel fell off the couch after he spun him in circles and placed him there. He told officials the child was fine afterward and had even smiled. However, Kybrel’s doctor stated that his injuries were “100% unequivocally the result of child abuse,” according to the criminal complaint.
Speaking to WPXI, Carla Darrell, Kybrel’s paternal grandmother, shared her heartbreak after visiting her grandson in the hospital. “It wasn’t good. He was on all kinds of machines. He was beaten like a grown man,” she said. “A man beat my grandson. He didn’t do anything to deserve this.”
Darrell also expressed regret that Kybrel had been left with Henderson, saying she and the boy’s father would have gladly taken care of him. “Nobody else had to watch him,” she said. “We would’ve watched him.”
Henderson remains in custody at Washington County Jail without bond as he awaits a court appearance later this month.
Darrell hopes Henderson remains behind bars. “I don’t believe he belongs out of jail,” she said. “He belongs where he deserves to be. He deserves to stay in there.”
