Toddler suffers life-threatening injuries in babysitter’s care, police say

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) – A toddler in Louisiana was hospitalized Thursday with life-threatening injuries while in the care of a babysitter.

A probable cause report obtained by WAFB states Howard Youngblood, 36, was arrested for second-degree cruelty to a juvenile.

According to the report, Youngblood told authorities he found 22-month-old Ty’Shawn Brumfield unresponsive and contacted emergency services officials who resuscitated the toddler and took him to the hospital.

An arrest report states Youngblood told officers Ty’Shawn fell on his front steps, but doctors said the toddler’s injuries were extensive and not consistent with a fall.

The doctor added the young child had bleeds inside his head, contributing to swelling that was causing, or had possibly already caused, brain damage.

Family members said Ty’Shawn is hooked up to a ventilator and is in critical condition. They said doctors said the toddler had blunt force trauma to the head.

“Even though we have all these other things with his bones in his back and stuff being broken and other things, the primary concern is that head injury,” the boy’s grandmother Shelia Parker said.

Parker said Youngblood was a friend of the toddler’s mother who had no idea he would do something like this to her child.

“I want to be able to hold my grandson. I want to put my arms around him because every time they touch him, when the nurses and the doctors touch him, he jumps and his heart rate goes so high because he thinks something is happening bad to him,” Parker said.

Parker said she hopes her grandson recovers so she and their entire family can show him the true meaning of love.

The family is asking everyone to keep Ty’Shawn in your thoughts and prayers as the road to recovery will be extremely difficult for him. If you’d like to help out the family click here.

Youngblood was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

This investigation is ongoing.

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