Baby's death spurs homicide charge against Pittsburgh teen already accused of child abuse

Police have charged a Pittsburgh teenager with homicide in the death of the 10-month-old son of the person he was dating.

Dominick Pinnick, 18, of Homewood had been under arrest since Sunday on attempted homicide and other charges after police said he abused and critically injured the baby when he would not stop crying.

The baby was hospitalized last week and died Monday.

Pinnick is also newly charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault and other offenses.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the baby’s name and official cause of death, city officials said.

Police were dispatched to Pinnick’s home in the 7000 block of Kedron Street around 4:18 p.m. Friday after Pinnick called 911 and said an infant had fallen from a bed, according to the criminal complaint. Pinnick left the home before police arrived.

The baby’s parent, who Pinnick had dated for seven months, left the boy in Pinnick’s care, the complaint said.

Pinnick later called the parent and told them he was standing outside with others when he heard a loud thud followed by the child crying, the complaint said.

The parent asked Pinnick to come to the hospital, but he did not show up.

The child was unresponsive, not breathing on his own and experiencing seizures when he arrived Friday at UPMC Children’s Hospital in critical condition, police said.

The child had suffered bleeding and swelling in the brain, doctors told police, according to the complaint. Surgeons removed part of the child’s skull.

Doctors later said the boy’s injuries, which included a skull fracture, were not consistent with a fall, but might have been the result of abusive head trauma, according to the complaint. The child also had suffered retinal hemorrhages and a possible broken arm.

Pinnick said he found the crying child on the floor beside the bed Friday, the complaint said. No matter what he did, Pinnick said, the boy would not stop crying.

Frustrated that the boy would not stop crying, Pinnick said he walked around the room and hit the child’s head three or four times on the wooden canopy bed posts in the bedroom, the complaint said. He said he “aggressively” placed the child on the bed, “aggressively” rocked him and “aggressively” rubbed the back of his head.

Police said the back of the boy’s head at that time was “soft and malleable,” according to what they said Pinnick told investigators.

Pinnick remained in the Allegheny County Jail Tuesday. As of late morning, he still was awaiting arraignment on the new charges.

Pinnick was denied bail Sunday.

Pinnick’s attorney was not listed Tuesday in court records.