"Baby John" RAMIREZ-HERRERA - 11 Months/ Accused: Father-Yohan Alfredo - York City PA

Friday, Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick said an 11-month-old York
city baby boy who died at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
was also the victim of head trauma caused by child abuse.

Hetrick said the child was brain dead when he was taken off life support.

The boy is the second mid-state infant to die of head trauma this year and the third case of deadly infant abuse.

The
infant’s father, Yohan Alfredo Ramirez-Herrera, 26, is being sought by
city police on homicide charges. He was last known to live at 48 S. Penn
St. in York. Authorities did not release the boy’s name or other
details about the case.

Shaken baby syndrome is a commonly
used term for head trauma in infants. Recent studies show the number of
cases in Pennsylvania were rising until 2009 but have since dropped off.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/10/york_baby_who_died_of_head_tra.html

YORK, Pa. -- York police said they are looking for a man accused of killing his 11-month-old baby.Yohan Ramirez-Herrera, 26, was charged by York City Police on Friday with homicide, after his child passed away on Tuesday.Police said Ramirez-Herrera's child was taken to York Hospital and transferred to Penn State Hershey Medical Center.The baby was taken off life support Tuesday morning and died.Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick, who did the autopsy, said this is a case of child abuse.“I can tell you the opinion of this coroner's office is it was homicide -- it was not accidental,” Hetrick said.Hetrick held a news conference about what happenedHe used a model of a skull to demonstrate what happens when a baby is shaken.“Shaken
baby is when you're shaking a baby back and forth and the brain is
hitting here and here and it's hitting here,” Hetrick said. “The bottom
line is it affects the front and back of the brain.”York city police said Ramirez-Herrera's baby was picked up at his York home and taken to York Hospital Sunday night.The 26-year-old lived in a third-floor apartment in the first block of South Penn Street in York.Police have not released exactly where the crime took place and will not give more detail until an arrest is made.Hetrick said even though the baby was no longer considered an infant, any baby is vulnerable."You're
pretty helpless at 11 months,” he said. “Believe me, to perform an
autopsy on an 11-month-old child and to look on the innocence of that
body is a pretty horrifying thing.”The coroner added his office
gives out a DVD on how to deal with the frustration of a crying baby and
how to prevent angry outbursts.Hetrick said he wishes that Ramirez-Herrera would have seen it.
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