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Homicide charges have been filed against an Erie man who police say killed his infant son. The charges come two days after the child died at a hospital in Pittsburgh.
According to a report released Wednesday by the Allegheny County Coroner's office, three month old Thameere Talmadge died of blunt force trauma to the head. Police believe his father, 19-year old Damere Talmadge, inflicted those injuries.
The baby was brought to Hamot Medical Center Saturday evening from an apartment on East 19th Street. According to the criminal complaint, Talmadge told officers he took his son upstairs to get him dressed to prepare for a walk. Talmadge told officers that he left the baby on a bed while he was looking for some clothes. He then heard the child choking. He said he then patted the baby on the back and ran with the child downstairs.
The baby was taken by helicopter from Hamot to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he died Monday. Doctors told police the baby suffered non-accidental head injuries. That information was enough for police to file assault charges against Talmadge. He was arraigned on those charges Wednesday morning. Investigators added the homicide charge Wednesday afternoon after a report from the Allegheny County Medical examiner was released. That report ruled the death a homicide and cited blunt force trauma to the head as the case of death.
Talmadge is in the Erie County Jail without bond.
http://www.wicu12.com/news/index.vnss?newsid=5701&type=News
The father of 3½-month-old Tah-Meere Talmadge told police he lightly patted his son on his back when the baby started choking Saturday.
But police believe that Damere H. Talmadge, 19, of the 1900 block of East 19th Street, inflicted such serious injuries to his son that two days later, the infant died at a Pittsburgh hospital of massive head injuries, including severe retinal bleeding.
On Wednesday, police charged Talmadge with homicide.
He also faces assault charges that police filed Tuesday over Tah-Meere's death.
Talmadge maintained his innocence at what would be his first arraignment Wednesday morning before Erie 1st Ward District Judge Sue Mack on charges of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and endangering the welfare of a child.
Talmadge told the judge during the hearing that Tah-Meere was his first child and that he had moved to Erie from Philadelphia in November to be with the baby's mother.
Talmadge was arraigned again Wednesday afternoon, when Erie Police Detective Sgts. Jim Spagel and Jon Peters added a charge of general homicide.
The detectives based the homicide count on the newly released findings of the Allegheny County Coroner's Office, which told the Erie County District Attorney's Office on Wednesday that Tah-Meere died from blunt-force trauma due to a homicide. The detectives had charged Talmadge with assault while waiting for the report.
Talmadge on Wednesday was sent to the Erie County Prison, where he was being held without bond.
Tah-Meere, born Feb. 26, was diagnosed with nonaccidental head trauma with massive retinal bleeding, Erie police said in the criminal complaints against Damere Talmadge. Doctors at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh made the diagnosis after the baby was flown there by medical helicopter from Hamot Medical Center, police said. Tah-Meere died at the hospital on Monday.
Police said Talmadge gave multiple accounts of how the baby suffered the injuries, though he maintained he only "lightly" patted the baby on the back, according to the criminal complaints police filed against him.
The Allegheny County Coroner's Office initially identified the baby as Thameere Talmadge, though court orders filed in Erie County Court on Tuesday showed the correct spelling of the baby's name is Tah-Meere. The court orders allow the Erie County District Attorney's Office access to the baby's medical records as part of the investigation into his death.
'He ... ran downstairs with the baby'
According to the criminal complaints, Erie police alleged Tah-Meere was injured at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Damere Talmadge's residence in the 1900 block of East 19th Street.
Talmadge was living there with his son, the baby's mother, the baby's maternal grandmother and the grandmother's 2-year-old child, according to the complaints and what Talmadge said at his first arraignment. The baby's mother, whom police do not identify in the complaints, was not home at the time.
Police said Tah-Meere's maternal grandmother, Tonya Williams, told investigators the baby was in a car seat in the living room about to fall asleep when Talmadge took the baby upstairs. Talmadge told police he was taking Tah-Meere upstairs to dress him for a walk.
According to the criminal complaints, Talmadge told police he left the baby lying on the bed while he went to get clothes.
Police said he told investigators he "heard the baby choking, and started to lightly pat the baby on the back," according to the criminal complaint for the homicide count. "He gave multiple accounts on how the infant received fatal injuries. He then ran downstairs with the baby."
Police said Williams told investigators that Talmadge "came downstairs yelling that something was wrong with the infant," according to complaints. Police said Williams also told investigators that mucus and milk were coming out of Tah-Meere's mouth and that he appeared to be blue.
A neighbor took the baby and Talmadge to Hamot, police said. After the baby was flown to Children's Hospital, Talmadge was also in Pittsburgh. The Erie detectives took him into custody there on the first set of charges.
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS02/806190387/-1/RSS01
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