Shidae Brown, also known as Shidae Sellers, faces a felony charge after a 7-month-old boy in her care suffered skull fractures and a severe brain injury that required intubation. Brown, who is 28, was arrested and charged with intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, according to Queen City News.
What investigators reported
Detectives said the infant’s injuries did not appear to result from an accident. Medical staff determined that the child was injured during the period Brown described, but that the injuries did not match her account that he had fallen from a couch, Queen City News reported. Brown told investigators she was the only person with the child when he was hurt, maintained that he fell from the couch and denied that any other accident occurred.
The reported sequence
The child’s mother left him with Brown on Sept. 7. During a FaceTime call the next day, the boy appeared fine. On Sept. 9, Brown asked the mother to meet her at a hospital and said the child had fallen from the couch earlier that day and was not doing well, according to Queen City News.
The charge
North Carolina General Statute § 14-318.4(a3) classifies intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury as a Class B2 felony. The statute defines serious bodily injury as harm that creates a substantial risk of death or causes permanent disfigurement, coma, a protracted condition involving extreme pain, lasting impairment of a bodily function or prolonged hospitalization, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. The charge is an allegation, and the available materials do not establish the case’s outcome.
