A grand jury in St. Lawrence County, New York, has indicted a woman for murder for allegedly violently shaking her boyfriend’s infant son, who eventually died from his injuries. Cops arrested Tiara K. Allen, 26, on July 13 for reckless assault of a child and endangering the welfare of a child. In addition to those charges, she now faces murder in the second degree, manslaughter in the second degree, and assault in the first degree, records show.
The baby, Conway, sustained a bilateral subdural hematoma on his brain, according to according to court documents.
Tiara Allen shook her boyfriend’s baby, causing fatal injuries, police said. (Screenshot: WWNY)
In a first-person statement attributed to Allen, who initialed and signed the page, she allegedly said she woke up around or before 7:30 a.m. July 13. She warmed up breast milk for her boyfriend’s baby in a bottle.
“I pulled his bassinet into our room and gave him the bottle and both of us went to bed for a few more hours,” documents said. “We woke up around 9:00-9:30 a.m.”
Her own son was there too, although his age is not specified.
Allen allegedly said she pulled the bassinet out of the bedroom and put it by a toy box. She said she took Conway out and placed him on her bed, documents stated. Allen allegedly said she went to the bathroom, and that Conway was fussy when she returned.
“I tried to settle him down and nothing was working,” the statement read. “I tried to give him his ‘binkie’ and bottle and nothing was working. I picked up Conway and took my anger out on him and I shouldn’t have. I picked him up with both hands and shook Conway back and forth out of frustration and anger.”
She allegedly admitted that when she “roughly” changed his diaper, she “forcefully pushed” the baby’s legs up to change him.
Allen described herself as frustrated and angry, documents stated.
According to her alleged statement, she said Conway became limp after she finished changing him. In documents, she described him as unconscious. She allegedly said she sought help from others, one of whom called 911.
“I thought maybe me holding him and moving him back and forth could have done it,” documents stated.
A woman called the house and asked if there was any fluids coming out of the child, the statement said. Allen allegedly said a little blood came out of his left nostril.
“She told me to put him belly down on my arm and cradle his head to see if he was choking on anything,” she allegedly wrote. “That wasn’t working.”
“I believe I caused Conway’s injuries,” Allen said in the signed statement. “I should have walked away from the situation and come back to him later, but it’s hard when he is fussy.”
The court scheduled Allen for a hearing to take place Jan. 8, 2024, online records show.
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