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Tyler Nichols, 24, of 2019 E. Third St., Williamsport, was taken into custody late Monday morning for allegedly inflicting serious injuries last year to his then-girlfriend's newborn son, according to Lycoming County Detective Loretta Badger.
Initially brought to UPMC Williamsport in late September, the 4-month-old arrived with bleeding from his "nose and mouth as well as a scleral hemorrhage (broken blood vessels in an eye) and bruises on his forehead," Badger wrote in an affidavit.
The baby was transferred to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, after X-rays revealed he suffered fractures to his leg and ribs and forearm, Badger said in the court document.
A trauma team at Geisinger treated the infant and determined he suffered "several unexplained bone fractures, which may be in various stages of healing, as well as bruising to the forehead, eyelids, chest and knee (along with the broken blood vessels in an eye); indicative of child abuse," Badger said in the affidavit.
It is alleged that Nichols caused the injuries between the time the baby was born in early May 2024 and when he was first brought to the hospital on Sept. 24, Badger said.
In an interview Badger had with the baby's mother in late April of this year, the mother recalled that on the night the child was brought to the hospital, Nichols had been upstairs changing him when "all of a sudden I heard the baby crying and Tyler rushing him down the stairs," with blood coming from the child's mouth and nose," the affidavit stated.
The mother told Badger she and Nichols met on an "online gaming platform" when he was living in Alabama.
Arrested at his place of employment outside Montoursville, Nichols, who has moved around at various locations throughout the county after moving here from Alabama in mid-April 2024, was arraigned before District Judge Gary Whiteman on one felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child and committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail.
Nichols has had no contact with the infant since the night he was brought to the hospital, Badger said. The child has made a full recovery, she added.