"Baby John" TJERNAGEL - 6 Months - St Cloud MN

Bail was set today at $250,000 for a St. Cloud woman who is accused of inflicting life-threatening injuries to her infant son.
Crystel Lee Tjernagel, 27, was charged in Stearns County District Court with first-degree assault, third-degree assault and malicious punishment of a child. Her 6-month-old son was hospitalized for several days with seizures, but he has since been released.Doctors observed symptoms of brain injury and are concerned that he might lose his vision, according to a court complaint charging Tjernagel.That complaint indicates that police intervened Sept. 17 when Tjernagel brought her son to the hospital. Doctors there diagnosed the boy with bleeding between the brain and the membranes covering the brain.The boy experienced seizures and had to be airlifted to the University of Minnesota Hospital. Doctors determined that the injuries were caused by trauma that likely was from child abuse, according to the court complaint.Tjernagel told investigators that she had been bouncing the child on her knee in a rough manner, without supporting the boy’s head and neck. She admitted being upset when she was bouncing the boy and that she had yelled at him to be quiet.She told investigators that the boy’s head hit her head as she was bouncing him on her knee and that the boy began to get quiet after that.She then went to a store across the street from her residence and returned when she was called back by her boyfriend, who said the boy had gone limp.She then rushed the child to the emergency room.She later told police that she could have shaken the boy and she acknowledged that she is possibly responsible for his injuries, according to the complaint.Doctors found healing fractures in the child’s arms that they dated to when the boy was 1-2 weeks old. Tjernagel told police that she used to pick the boy up by his arms and swing him. Doctors said the old injuries were consistent with that activity.When discharged from the hospital, the boy had “rigidity in his appendages consistent with seizures as well as other symptoms associated with a brain injury,” according to the court complaint.A physician ruled out the head-to-head contact that Tjernagel described as being the cause of the baby’s injuries because of the absence of a skull fracture and soft tissue trauma.

babies r not toys!!!!

I found an update on this case. She got 7.5 years in jail.


Minn. Woman Gets 7.5 Years For Child’s Injuries
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – A St. Cloud woman who pleaded guilty to seriously injuring her infant son has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

Crystal Lee Tjernagel pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and malicious punishment of a child. The 27-year-old was sentenced Friday.

Her 6-month-old was hospitalized in September with seizures. Doctors said the boy had bleeding around his brain that was consistent with child abuse.

Tjernagel told investigators she’d been bouncing the boy roughly on her knee. She said their heads collided and the boy grew quiet, eventually growing limp.

She later acknowledged to police that she may have shaken the boy.

The St. Cloud Times says she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.

A telephone number for her attorney couldn’t immediately be found Saturday.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/04/23/minn-woman-gets-7-5-years-for-childs-injuries/