Latrobe Mother Charged With Shaking Baby
LATROBE (KDKA) -- A local mother is facing charges after she allegedly shook her baby.
State police say that it was during a therapy session that Breana Elizabeth Rigda, of Latrobe, admitted to what really happened to her baby, Mackenzie Rigda.
Rigda was on her way to go tanning with a friend in Greensburg the morning of September 10th when Mackenzie's father called her to tell her there was something wrong.
According to the criminal complaint, Rigda, the child's father and her friend rushed Mackenzie to the emergency room at Latrobe Hospital because she was having trouble breathing.
Doctors noticed the baby was having seizures and performed a CT scan which showed the baby had bruising and bleeding on the brain.
That's when CYS got involved.
The baby was then transferred to the intensive care unit Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Rigda initially told investigators she thought Mackenzie had pneumonia because of shallow breathing, but later, she allegedly told her therapist, "I was the one who shook Mackenzie."
She went on to say that hours earlier, she was sleeping on the floor next to her baby who was in a bassinet.
The baby wouldn't stop crying and she shook her. In doing so, the baby's head hit the bassinet, making a "thud" sound.
Rigda put her baby back in the bassinet and went to go tanning.
She is facing charges of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
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