Homestead police said the baby suffered multiple fractures and a brain bleed before he was brought into the hospital. NBC6’s Sophia Hernandez reports.
A man has been arrested on a murder charge after he allegedly killed his 7-month-old son in Homestead.
Daniel Nasir Griffiths, 23, was arrested Thursday for second-degree murder after he admitted he caused the baby's injuries that resulted in his death, according to an arrest report.
Homestead Police said they responded on Oct. 1 to Baptist Health Homestead Hospital after the child's maternal grandmother brought him in from Griffith’s home at the Key Cove apartment complex.
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The baby was suffering from multiple fractures and a brain bleed and died days later, on Oct. 4. An autopsy determined that he died from blunt force injuries.
The grandmother, Yolanda Felten, said Friday that she's still in disbelief.
“I have no words, honestly I have no words," Felten said. “Very numb, it’s very unreal. You read about these people all the time and then for this to come right in your face, it feels like I’m asleep.”
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Felten said her daughter had called her and asked her to pick up the child, Daniel Nasir Griffiths Jr., from the father's home after he said the baby would fuss and then go back to sleep.
“He said he’s just been acting weird all day, he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him," Felten said.
She said she put her grandson in the car but saw bruising on his legs and knew something was wrong. That's when she brought him to the hospital.
“It’s just numbing to know that someone could do that to a child, to a defenseless child, he was someone I trusted," Felten said. “Every time I seen him I was thinking about what I lose. To be in my face, to be in the presence, to know that you did this. Like what you are going to do to me, it’s hard.”
Throughout the investigation, Griffiths allegedly provided different accounts of his whereabouts while he was caring for the child, police said.
Almost two weeks after the baby's death, on Thursday, Griffiths responded voluntarily to the Miami-Dade Police Department to give a statement, an arrest report states.
According to the report, Griffiths “knowingly and willingly waived his right to have legal representation and subsequently provided a detailed statement of his actions resulting in critically injuring the victim and ultimately his death.”
Griffiths was booked into jail and was expected to appear in bond court on Friday. Attorney information wasn't available.
Jail records showed Griffiths was already on probation in a strongarm robbery case.
