DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — A Steelton woman has been charged in the 2018 death of her two-month-old child.
Shante Plummer, 39, faces charges of criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of children, court documents show.
Police say around 7:45 a.m. on October 28, 2018, an officer was called to a residence in the 600 block of North 2nd Street in the borough in reference to an infant that was having breathing issues and may pass. While the officer was responding, he was advised that the two-month-old died — the child was pronounced dead at 8:45 a.m., charging documents say.
Plummer, the infant’s mother, was at the hospital and spoke with police, saying that she lives in the house with her seven children and the father of the two-month-old doesn’t reside with them.
According to charging documents, Plummer said she was co-sleeping with her child, who was face down next to her. She stated she awoke to a “wail” and found the infant on the floor next to the bed. Plummer advised that she realized something was wrong and called 911 and they advised her how to do CPR.
The ambulance and police arrived at the same time and an EMT took over medical care, charging documents say.
Police wrote in the charging documents that Plummer didn’t mention to the EMT about hearing wailing, she reportedly just told the EMT that she woke up and found the infant unresponsive.
While on scene, police noticed that the bed Plummer and her child were co-sleeping on leans to one side. It was determined by photos and with measurements that that the left side of the bed that the mother was on was eight inches higher than the other side.
Plummer advised that she was laying on the left side of the bed on her left side and placed the two-month-old toward the side of the bed where it slopes.
A search warrant of Plummer’s phone that she didn’t call 911 at first, charging documents say. She called the father of her child and “spoke to him for some time” before calling 911.
An autopsy determined that the infant had six broken ribs on one side of her body.
A doctor in the county coroner’s office advised that Plummer may have fallen asleep, rolled over with the tilt of her bed and laid on the child, charging documents said. It’s noted that Plummer is approximately 280 pounds.
Police say the charges filed against Plummer stem from her being under the influence of drugs, the severe tilt in the bed and co-sleeping, according to charging documents.
