14-month-old girl on life support after being shaken, police say

Javiele Frias, 22, charged with injury to child

SAN ANTONIO – A 14-month-old girl is on life support after she was shaken, San Antonio police said.

Javiele Frias, 22, could face enhanced charges if the girl dies, authorities said.

Sandra Pickell, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Police Department, said the child remained on life support as of Wednesday morning. Doctors said that they do not expect her to survive.

Pickell said investigators believe that Frias caused the baby’s injuries Monday evening. 

They arrested him after answering a call for help at an apartment complex in the 1700 block of Pleasanton Road.

Frias initially told officers that the child fell off a bed while she was in his care. Pickell said he later changed his story and said that he had been holding the baby by her heels, then somehow dropped her on her head.

"(He said) the baby fell onto the tile floor,” Pickell said. “He then added that the baby wouldn't stop crying, and at that time, he shook the baby. "

Pickell said the child suffered bruising to her head and a severe brain injury. Detectives are still investigating and are trying to determine what happened.

"The charges for now are injury to a child. That might change,” Pickell said.

Frias could face a more severe charge if the baby does not survive, Pickell said.

Neighbors in the apartment complex have been expressing their sorrow. Someone hung a so-called "Cardboard Kid” from a nearby telephone pole.

The cardboard cutouts are part of a campaign underway in San Antonio by a group called Child Safe to raise awareness about child abuse. 

“I didn't see it there yesterday,” said Sara Lovell, who lives in the apartment complex. "We're all feeling the effects and hurting for this little baby girl. "

Lovell said the case is especially close to her heart. She lost a child to a miscarriage in 2015.

"When I heard that this baby was 14 months old, it just really hit home, because that's the same age that my daughter would have been," Lovell said.

Lovell said her hope is that the cardboard cutout will send a message and help prevent any more children from being hurt.

--------------------------------------------------------

Don't miss a thing. Get email alerts from KSAT 12 today.
Get alerted to news events as they happen or sign up for a scheduled news headline email that is delivered right to your inbox. Breaking news, severe weather, daily forecasts, entertainment news, all of the day’s important events to keep you up to date wherever you are.

Sign up today. It's Free.


About the Author:

Katrina Webber joined KSAT 12 in December 2009. She reports for Good Morning San Antonio. Katrina was born and raised in Queens, NY, but after living in Gulf Coast states for the past decade, she feels right at home in Texas. It's not unusual to find her singing karaoke or leading a song with her church choir when she's not on-air.