2 people charged after fight leads to baby’s skull fractured in East Deer Township

EAST DEER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Two people are behind bars after a fight led to a 1-year-old baby being taken to a hospital with a skull fracture.

According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to Clarks Pike Road in East Deer Township on Nov. 1 at 11:52 a.m. A baby and his mother were injured after an altercation and were taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital.

The mother told police she had recently moved in a house and had been having issues with another tenant, Lewis Davis, and his girlfriend, Catalina Hirth.

The victim and Hirth got into an argument in the kitchen that became physical, the complaint said. The mother said she was holding her baby but put him down on the landing of the steps that led from the kitchen to the attic.

The victim told police Hirth threw a cup of juice at her and charged at her before punching her in the head. The victim punched back, which was when Lewis came out of the bathroom and joined Hirth in punching the victim in the head.

According to the complaint, the victim was on the staircase a few steps down from where the baby was.

A vase was thrown at her but it missed, and the victim grabbed a wooden kitchen cabinet door that was being used as a baby gate to defend herself, the complaint said. She threw it at Lewis, who grabbed it and threw it back at her.

The victim said she deflected the door, which missed hitting her. It landed back on the stairs.

Shortly after, the baby, who was still sitting at the top of the stairs, started screaming and the fighting stopped. His mother grabbed him and realized he was bleeding from the head, so she called 911, according to the complaint.

The baby was found to have a depressed skull fracture and a laceration to his scalp which were extruding brain matter. He was taken into emergency surgery.

The mother also had several injuries.

Davis and Kirth are each facing several counts of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person.

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