Lawrence man charged with injuring infant son

LAWRENCE, Mass. (WHDH) -- A Lawrence man accused of shaking his 2-month-old son and dropping the baby on the floor is being held on $100,000 bail.

Anibal Cordero, 26, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault and battery on a child causing substantial injury on Tuesday and returned to court Wednesday to get a court-appointed lawyer.

The Essex County District Attorney’s office said the baby is at Children’s Hospital on a ventilator. On Wednesday evening, the baby’s brain was bleeding.

Police said the incident happened at Cordero’s one-room apartment on Monday afternoon as he and his girlfriend prepared to bathe their infant. Investigators said when the baby’s mother went out into the hallway to put water into a small, plastic bathtub, when Cordero shook his son and dropped him on the floor, causing bleeding in the brain, police said.

An incident report says Cordero initially denied knowing why his son had to be hospitalized -- first at Lawrence General, then at the Boston Medical Center and Children’s Hospital -- but later admitted shaking his son and then dropping him. Cordero claimed he dropped the baby accidentally and caught his head before it hit the floor.

The couple’s landlord said it took quite a while for an ambulance to arrive on Monday. The landlord said the couple was in the car ready to leave when the ambulance arrived and then the EMTs put the baby in the ambulance.

His defense lawyer says the baby's injuries were "accidental" and a doctor who initially treated the baby at Lawrence General did not see signs of child abuse. Cordero will return to court on March 26.

(Copyright (c) 2012 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)