A Kentucky man is facing murder charges for allegedly punching his 1-month-old son in anger while losing a video game, killing the infant in the process.
Anthony Trice, 26, of Louisville, was initially charged with first-degree criminal abuse of a child, as The Louisville Courier-Journal reported on Sunday, as the unidentified child was in a hospital fighting for life. The baby later died, and the criminal charges against Trice were later upgraded to murder.
According to Louisville’s WDRB-TV , on Saturday night Trice was playing an unidentified video game while he was babysitting his son. At some point, he began losing, and in anger, threw his game controller. He then allegedly punched the infant in the head with his fist, causing serious injury.
Police say that Trice’s blow didn’t kill the baby initially, and indeed, the “distressed” baby cried as Trice picked him up and tried to calm him. While walking with the baby into the kitchen to make a bottle, Trice allegedly dropped the baby and then picked him back up again.
Trice then allegedly propped the baby up in a sitting position, gave him a bottle, covered him with a blanket, and went to the bathroom. When he returned, he saw that the infant was still in distress and called 911.
Anthony Trice’s bond was raised to $1,000,000 full cash. https://t.co/5m910k2wxh
— WAVE (@wave3news) May 6, 2019
The boy was taken to Norton Children’s Hospital, where he later died.
Although police reports have not provided the infant’s name, a GoFundMe page , whose author claims to be his grandmother, confirms the baby’s name is De’Anthony Trice.
“We need your help… Some of you have seen on the news we were recently hit with a tragedy. My grand baby was severely beaten by his father and the baby De’Anthony Trice lost his life on May 5, 2019. None of us saw this coming and the We need help to burial my grandson. Please help our family with prayers and support. God bless you.”
As of this writing, the crowdfunding campaign has raised $784 of a goal of $5,000.
Louisville’s WAVE-TV notes that on Monday, as Trice was behind bars for allegedly murdering an infant by punching him in the head, Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky released a video talking about the dangers of head trauma in infants. You can watch the video here .
Dr. Kelly Duak from Norton Children’s Child Abuse Task Force said that it’s surprisingly common for young children in Kentucky to die from head trauma inflicted in the course of abusive treatment.
“An infant in the state of Kentucky is 70-times more likely to die from an abusive head trauma than they are from a motor vehicle accident,” she notes.
