Father Jailed After Falling On 3-Week-Old Daughter

DERRY BOROUGH (KDKA) – A father has been charged and police are investigating after a baby suffered a head injury this weekend.

The front door screen of 501 Hays Street is missing after Derry Borough police say Leonard Tigney fell through it. In the 22-year-old's arms was his 3-week-old daughter Teairra Tigney. The two fell to the cement.

The baby was initially unresponsive and flown to Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital with potential neurological damage to her brain.

"It was a simple accident," said Cynthia Finch. "He's not a bad dad."

Finch says she's Teairra's godmother and says she witnessed the entire thing. She says Leonard backed into the door, didn't realize the screen had fallen out and fell through the door.

"No one intentionally threw their child on the floor because they were drunk or angry," she said. "It was an accident."

Finch also says the child, despite reports to the contrary, wasn't significantly injured.

"The baby's OK," she said. "Gonna go pick her up tonight."

Police say alcohol played a role, saying Leonard was intoxicated at the time he fell and the baby hit the ground.

"He's a grown man drinking in his own home," said Finch. "Was he intoxicated? No, he was not. It wasn't like that. The screen door wasn't there."

However, Leonard is in the Westmoreland County Jail, charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and public drunkenness.

Police also say a neighbor watched what happened with the baby and became angry, then went over and punched Leonard.

However, Leonard told police that someone punched him and that's what caused to fall while holding the baby.

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