WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, July 13, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A West Valley City man has been booked for child abuse homicide after the police say he admitted to inflicting multiple injuries on his infant son.
The victim, Deyvion Johnson, born on Jan. 31 of this year, was removed from life support on Saturday after being found unresponsive on Friday and rushed to Primary Children’s Hospital.
Shawn Malik Johnson, 23, the father of the 5 1/2 month old boy, has been booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony; and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.
A probable cause statement says that West Valley City Police officers were dispatched to Johnson’s apartment, at 4002 S. Boulder Pines, on a report of an infant not breathing.
“The (infant) victim was taken up to Primary Children’s hospital and taken to the ICU,” the court document says. “It was found the victim had multiple injuries including bruising, brain hemorrhaging and the victim’s skull was fractured.”
Police questioned Shawn Johnson.
“The victim’s father was brought in and, post Miranda, admitted to throwing a metal bottle at the victim’s head, striking the victim with a closed fist in the back of the victim’s head and dropping the baby from a swing set approximately 15 feet on a concrete curbing.
“The victim was later declared deceased at the hospital.”
Prior to admitting to the deadly abuse, Johnson told officers that “he believed that his autistic brother had been the one to injure the victim.”
Johnson “later admitted to lying and blaming his brother because he did not want to go to jail,” the probable cause statement says.
Johnson was booked into jail at 6:38 p.m. Friday. His bail was set at $100,000.
