Woman accused of manslaughter forcefully held crying baby, hoping he would sleep
A Lebanon woman accused of manslaughter told authorities that she forcefully pressed a screaming and crying 1-year-old’s head into her chest and rocked him back and forth, patting his butt, in an attempt to get him to sleep, according to court paperwork.
Amber Marie Scott, 20, added that she held him hard for five minutes, long enough that her left wrist was sore for the next few hours, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.
“She could hear (the boy) making muffled whining noises into her chest. She told us (the boy) stopped making noises and that she noticed that his resistance became subtle and then she felt him go limp very quickly after,” wrote a Lebanon Police Department detective.
“She told us that she was really tired from lack of sleep and wanted to go back to bed herself,” the PC affidavit states.
The boy, Asher Carter, had turned 1 year old on Feb. 17. He was hospitalized in cardiac arrest on Feb. 19 and police learned he had been declared brain dead on Feb. 25.
Scott was arrested on Feb. 27 and charged with first-degree manslaughter in Linn County Circuit Court on Thursday.
Judge Michael Wynhausen set her bail at $100,000, and scheduled the next hearing in the case for March 11.
An emergency room nurse at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, where Asher Carter was initially brought for medical help, notified authorities about the case.
Staff members told police that they noticed small red or purple spots around his eyes, left ear, and the left side of his neck.
Scott was living in the same household as Asher Carter and his parents in the 500 block of East Grant Street. Her boyfriend is the brother of Asher Carter’s mother.
When Asher Carter’s father was leaving for an appointment in Albany at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 19, he handed his son to Scott, who was supposed to be watching him for the day, according to the PC affidavit.
She told police that she forcefully held the boy for approximately five minutes. Scott realized while she was still holding his head that he was not breathing, the PC affidavit states.
She carried him upstairs in the home to his bed where she laid him on his back and knelt over him, according to the PC affidavit.
“She could not remember exactly how long. She told us she was still panicking and did not know what to do,” the Lebanon detective wrote.
She brought him downstairs, laid him on the couch and decided to attempt to perform CPR on the boy. After performing a few chest compressions, she called for her boyfriend for help, and he called 9-1-1, according to the probable cause affidavit.