Inset: Taylor Grenier (Vermont State Police). Background: The Bradford Motel in Bradford, Vt. (Google Maps).
A Vermont woman who was accused of hurting her 11-month-old baby will avoid a long prison term after taking a plea.
Taylor Grenier, 31, pleaded guilty to aggravated domestic assault and was sentenced to 30 days in jail plus five years of probation. The deal came two years after Grenier’s then-11-month-old son was seriously injured at the Bradford Motel in Bradford, Vermont, where Grenier was living at the time.
On Aug. 8, 2024, first responders arrived at the motel and found the baby lethargic, with bruising on his head. Grenier originally said he fell off a bed while they were both sleeping in it, but medical staff at the hospital where the baby was taken said his injuries were not consistent with that story.
The baby later had a seizure and was placed on a ventilator.
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According to reporting on the case by local news outlet Valley News, the medical staff at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center said the baby had suffered several “non-accidental injuries,” including bleeding near his brain, spine, and eyes. He also had injuries to ligaments in his spine. Physicians believed the baby had been shaken.
Police began investigating what happened to the baby and spoke to several people who knew Grenier. One friend said Grenier would become overwhelmed when the baby cried, which was often. Grenier was reportedly not careful when removing the baby from her car; the friend said she saw Grenier bump the baby’s head.
The same friend told police that Grenier did not normally co-sleep with her baby son. On the morning of the incident, Grenier told the friend that the baby fell out of his playpen.
The friend’s mother, who also knew Grenier, said she saw Grenier leave her baby by himself in her car “awake and crying in the nonrunning car with the windows partially down.” On another occasion, the friend’s mother witnessed Grenier leave the baby on the couch by himself while she smoked a cigarette outside. Grenier reportedly joked that her dog, an 80-pound pit bull, was “watching” him.
No one police spoke to said they saw Grenier intentionally harm her baby, who is now 3 years old and in the custody of someone else, according to Valley News.
When police told Grenier that the baby’s injuries could not have come from a fall off a bed, Grenier said she must have shaken him too hard while trying to rouse him.
Grenier was originally charged with aggravated domestic assault and child cruelty. The latter charge was dismissed as part of her plea deal. On Aug. 19, Grenier received a two- to eight-year prison sentence, which was suspended except for 30 days to be served at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. She was ordered to submit to random drug testing and pursue treatment for mental health and substance abuse.
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