Wilkinsburg woman facing charge of endangering son
September 13, 2014 4:11 PM
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By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When Wilkinsburg police arrived at the scene of a reported domestic disturbance around 1 a.m. today, they found a badly bruised baby and a story that didn’t seem to explain the injuries.
By morning, police charged the baby’s mother, Dalishia Danika Salter, 22, with endangering the welfare of a child, and jailed her pending arraignment. Pittsburgh Municipal Court scheduled a Sept. 25 preliminary hearing.
The arrest followed a year and a half of troubles between Ms. Salter and the father of her 11-month-old son.
In the criminal complaint, Wilkinsburg Officer Michael Bender wrote that he arrived at Ms. Salter’s home to find “a small child lying on the bed with large bruising and bleeding wounds to his head and face.”
Ms. Salter told police that an absent ex-boyfriend had pushed a flat screen TV off of a dresser, striking her son as he lay on the bed, according to the complaint.
The child was taken to UPMC Children's Hospital, where staff found "a tear inside his mouth from an object being shoved with great force into his mouth," according to the complaint.
Hospital staff “also confirmed what we had originally thought, that the child had suffered from multiple injuries over a period of time, because you could see various forms of healing on the child's face and head," the officer wrote.
The injuries, the officer continued, "were not consistent with just falling or bumping into things, which was the story given to me by the mother.”
In May 2013, Ms. Salter filed for a protection from abuse order against David Bryant Jr., 24. She listed just one child, a daughter, now 4 years old, on that petition, indicating that Mr. Bryant was not the father.
She claimed that he had been "harassing and stalking" and threatening her, broke into her home and grabbed her. In April, after Mr. Bryant did not appear at a hearing, a judge ordered that he have no contact with Ms. Salter for three years.
That order listed another child, Mr. Bryant’s son, who is now 11 months old. It ordered that all communication regarding the child be handled through a county caseworker.
In October, Allegheny County Children & Youth Services filed a petition in the Family Division of the Court of Common Pleas, naming Ms. Salter among the defendants. Documents in that case are not available online.
Ms. Salter pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct following a March incident, and was fined. Mr. Bryant was also charged with disorderly conduct on the same date, and that charge is pending.
Mr. Bryant also faces charges including aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and burglary for an April 10 incident. He pleaded guilty to drug possession in 2012, and was sentenced to nine months of probation.
No one answered the door at Ms. Salter’s house Saturday morning, and online court records did not list an attorney.