Father Accused of Shaking, Critically Hurting Baby : Crime: He faces felony child abuse count. His brain-damaged 6-week-old son is not expected to live.

A 6-week-old boy clung to life Sunday in a hospital intensive care ward and was not expected to survive after being shaken so severely by his father that he suffered brain damage, police said.

The 20-year-old father, a Buena Park resident whom police would not identify, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of felony child abuse.

“If this child dies, that could change to manslaughter or murder,” said Sgt. Jeff Kingsbury of the Buena Park Police Department. “The infant is on life support and extremely critical.”

Kingsbury said the family called the Fire Department about 4:20 p.m. Saturday and said they thought the boy was “experiencing seizures.” The baby was taken to La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, where doctors determined the injuries were life-threatening and had him transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit of Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Kingsbury said.

“After being examined by doctors there it was determined that the baby had been violently shaken, causing brain damage,” Kingsbury said.

The matter was turned over to the county Social Services Agency’s child protective services, which made a preliminary investigation and contacted the Buena Park police, Kingsbury said.

“They described it as ‘shaken baby syndrome,’ ” Kingsbury said. “Most of the time it happens when babies are crying. I guess out of frustration, someone will shake the baby to attempt to quiet it down and the head bounces back and forth and causes brain damage.”

Kingsbury said “with this infant, they suspect severe damage.”

Police refused to identify the child, its father or mother because of the ongoing investigation into the incident.

Revealing the parents’ identities “could affect our investigation,” Lt. Mike Schwartz said. “There are other people to contact in this case and we don’t want them tainted.”

Schwartz did say the baby’s parents were renting a room in a single-family home in Buena Park and that the mother was present when the incident occurred.

Judy Curreri, a public health nurse with Orange County for 30 years and the mayor of Dana Point, said it is easy to hurt a young baby by shaking it.

Although Curreri was unfamiliar with this case, she said child abuse is usually unintended and often comes in homes where a baby’s crying can lead to the eviction of tenants who are renting a room.

“I can’t speak to this case but, in general, the strength of an adult compared to a child’s body is incredible,” Curreri said. “A child’s bones are so soft and it doesn’t have much muscle in its neck. It doesn’t take a lot to cause damage.”

* INNOCENCE MAINTAINED: A Santa Ana man, arrested on suspicion of killing his 8-month-old daughter, tearfully calls her death accidental. B12