PERRY, Fla. (WTXL) - The parents of an 8-week-old infant are behind bars in Perry after their child was found to have bleeding in his brain, multiple rib fractures and spine injuries that may have been intentionally caused.
Tiffini Krahl, 20, and Tyler Gray, 20, were arrested by the Taylor County Sheriff's Office this week and charged with "causing great bodily harm through an intentional act reasonably expected to result in injury to a child and child neglect resulting in great bodily harm.”
On Aug. 27, 2017, deputies obtained information about the victim from Shands Hospital in Gainesville that he received "multiple healing fractures to the ribs, multiple bleeds on the brain, all throughout the brain, and possibly was the result of the Shaken baby syndrome."
Deputies interviewed Gray and Krahl separately three days later.
They both told deputies that Tallahassee Memorial Hospital informed them of the dangers of co-sleeping with with an infant, however the two continued to do so.
Gray stated that he and Krahl were sleeping with the victim about four out of the seven days of the week.
He said to deputies that one night he woke up and the victim's left arm and left leg were underneath him in a "weird" way.
They also informed deputies that Gray dropped the victim while taking a shower and caught him mid-air without supporting his neck or head.
In addition, they said to deputies that their poodle jumped on the victim's ribs at least once.
According to the police report, deputies asked Gray about "covering for Tiffini." Gray then asked deputies, "Am I supposed to throw away eight weeks?"
He never gave specific information or knowledge of Krahl hurting the victim.
In a report from the University of Florida Child Protection Team, the victim was found to have bleeding in his brain, multiple rib fractures, compression fracture of his spine, a partial dislocation of a ligament in his neck and a displaced rib.
The report states that the victim was brought to Shands Hospital with "seizures and altered mental status." The report also stated that the victim had multiple spinal and rib fractures and additional injury consistent with inflicted shaking.
On Sept. 15, 2017, deputies interviewed the doctor who was caring for the victim. He told deputies the victim, "has a number of problems, basically all of them are hemorrhages of different kinds."
The doctor stated he doesn't believe this was accidental because the victim's scan showed, "old blood and blood that's new, so the only real explanation for that is something that happened more than once."
Based on the evidence, Krahl and Gray were both charged with intentionally causing harm to the child and child neglect.
