Man admits to forcibly shaking child

JENNINGS COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - A 27-year-old man has been arrested after he admitted to police he forcibly shook an 18-month-old, causing bodily injury, after she would not stop crying.

Deputies with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office arrested Ryan James Shelley after deputies received a call that a baby has fallen off of a kitchen counter and was unconscious.

Crews responded to a home on the 1400 block of Almond Avenue in North Vernon shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday.

The child was airlifted to Kosairs Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.

After interviewing the child’s guardians, investigators determined the injuries were not consistent with the information Shelley gave them, saying the child fell off the kitchen counter, hitting the floor.

Shelley is the boyfriend of the baby’s mother.

Doctors assessed that the child’s injuries were from being shaken forcefully, not from falling from a counter top.

The 18-month-old is in the critical intensive care unit at the hospital.

Shelley was found hiding in a bedroom closet at the home on Almond Avenue. He was taken into custody and transported to the Jennings County Jail.

There he admitted to detectives that he forcibly shook the child because she would not stop crying.

He was arrested on preliminary charges of felony aggravated battery with serious injury and felony neglect