Report: baby suffered seizure after being shaken violently by father

Reporter: Jolena Esperto Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:
baby shaken
Rowan Stone suffers two brain bleeds. CREDIT: ABIGAIL GIRDLER

A baby was shaken so aggressively by his father that he suffered a seizure, according to the police report for his father’s arrest.

A newly obtained report from Lee County deputies says that Nathan Stone shook the baby boy hard enough to leave him twitching and had a seizure in the emergency room.

Police also said that Stone had been rough with the baby prior.

When Abigail Girdler took her not even 3-month-old baby to the hospital after she thought he may be having a seizure. Then, Girdler heard something no parent ever wants to hear.

“I asked her, I’m like, what causes this, and that’s when she said shakeen baby syndrome, and mind you, his father didn’t show any concern, remorse… nothing,” said Girdler.

WINK News spoke with Julie Noble, the Safe Kids Southwest Florida Coordinator at Golisano Children’s Hospital.

“Shaken Baby Syndrome, or clinically called abusive head trauma, is 100% preventable,” said Noble. “Our data shows that the number one trigger for that shaking event is infant crying, and so understanding that infant crying is what helps parents recognize the frustration they’re feeling.”

Safe Kids is a nonprofit that works to prevent childhood injury. Noble spent more than 10 years working for the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

“With that shaking event, it stuns them, can concuss them and quiets them, so that’s a real disturbing fact that that happens in these cases,” said Noble.

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