SHIPPENSBURG, PA — A Shippensburg man is accused of fracturing the skull of a two month-old boy. Douglas Asbury is facing charges of aggravated and simple assault and endangering the welfare of a child. On July 16th of 2016, Asbury and the child’s mother brought the baby to Chambersburg Hospital. Asbury had been watching the child and said he fell out of bed. When she got home from work the mother insisted on taking the baby to the hospital. There, doctors discovered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. The baby’s left eye was swollen shut, there were red marks on his abdomen and chest area and new bleeds on the brain.
The infant was flown to Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
According to court documents, experts told police the child’s injuries were not consistent with Asbury’s story of the baby rolling out of bed.
The baby’s mother, Alexis McCleary, maintains Asbury is innocent and the injury was the result of an accident. She also says the report is inaccurate, that her son, now 8 months old and healthy, never suffered a skull fracture.
McCleary says she and Asbury cooperated with investigators and completed a parental evaluation by ABC in Carlisle and complied with everything asked of them by Children and Youth. The baby was never taken from them and the charges come as a shock, 6 months after the incident took place.
“This world is full of people who actually hurt their children and an innocent man is being accused of a felony with intent,” says McCleary. “I have never in my life seen more love than the love Doug has for ( my son). CYS tears families apart, they don’t help. This was an actual accident. That will come out in time.”
Asbury was committed to Cumberland County Prison on $50,000 bail.
