Father arrested, charged in 4-month-old son’s death

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Tacoma man arrested in the death of his 4-month-old son earlier this week was charged Friday with second-degree murder.

Samuel Kennedy, 23, was arrested Tuesday after a hospital social worker called Tacoma police about a child brought in with head trauma, KIRO-TV reported.

Doctors said the boy’s injury was consistent with abusive head trauma and that the baby had recent similar injuries, according to probable cause documents from the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office. The child died the following day.

Police said the child’s mother said the couple had three young children and that she had been at work on Tuesday.

Kennedy said he picked up his son because he was crying and eventually put him back in his rocker, but minutes later, the baby exhaled deeply, which caused concern, documents said. He then discovered his son wasn’t breathing, documents said.

Police said Kennedy initially denied dropping or shaking his son but after further investigation, was arrested, documents said. Police said he later admitted to shaking the baby after becoming frustrated.

The boy died of blunt force trauma to his head, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office. It wasn’t immediately known if Kennedy has a lawyer to comment on the case. His bail was set Friday at $1.5 million.