Man Admits to Throwing 9-Week-Old

Jeffrey Alan Merritt-Angst, the man charged in the serious head trauma to a 9-week old baby, has admitted during police interrogation to throwing the infant four-to-five feet, causing the child’s head to strike the floor.  He said he’d thrown his girlfriend’s 9-week-old infant toward a bed.  The 26-year-old Merritt-Angst appeared in Yellowstone County Justice Court on Tuesday and was charged with assault on a minor.  He’s being held in lieu of $85,000 bond.

 
He was arrested Saturday after his girlfriend brought her 9-week-old baby to Billings Clinic for a head injury.  The baby boy was flown to a Colorado Children’s Hospital for treatment, where doctors diagnosed him with a skull fracture, a ruptured blood vessel in his brain and several healing fractured ribs, which might indicate prior abuse.  The unidentified 21-year-old mother and Merritt-Angst were staying at the Vegas Hotel with the baby and the woman’s 2-year-old.