NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — A man is facing charges after police say he assaulted a two-month-old baby in Westmoreland County.
According to the Westmoreland County DA’s office, emergency crews were called to the 1500 block of Stewart Street in New Kensington at 2:24 a.m. on Sept. 22 for reports of a baby in cardiac arrest.
Lower Burrell medics took the two-month-old to UPMC Children’s Hospital after learning the child was actually having a seizure.
According to court documents, the doctors reported the baby had a brain bleed that spread to the spine and a stroke. Police were informed that medics believed the injuries could have been the result of the baby being shaken.
Police said the baby’s father, Jacob Alexander Piontek, 25, of New Kensington, told hospital staff that the child fell from a couch and onto a concrete floor in the basement. Doctors confirmed to police the injuries were inconsistent with that story.
Investigators reviewed the 911 call Piontek made on Sept. 22. According to court documents, Piontek said, “I was downstairs with him; I was just playing with him. I wasn’t doing nothing too aggressive. All of a sudden, he just started going in and out of consciousness.”
Police noted, this did not align with what Piontek told hospital staff.
When authorities interviewed him, they said Piontek told them he sat the child on the couch in the basement and heard the child crying after going upstairs to the living room to grab his essentials.
Police say Piontek changed his story again in a separate interview after they told him a fall from the couch would not have caused the injuries the child was suffering. He responded, police say, by saying he was tossing the baby onto the couch from about five feet away and that the child would hit the back of the couch. He said at one point, he “might have got excited” while throwing the child from six feet away, causing him to hit the harder part of the couch by the arm.
Police announced charges against Piontek on Tuesday.
He faces multiple counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and parental obstruction.
Piontek is being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on a $50,000 bail.
The Westmoreland County DA’s Office said the baby has since been released from the hospital and placed in foster care.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
