5-week-old baby hospitalized with broken ribs, femur

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
A 5-week-old baby was hospitalized yesterday morning with numerous injuries, leaving police with a host of unanswered questions and neighbors hoping for the infant's recovery.
The baby was listed in critical condition at St. Christopher's Hospital with cracked ribs, facial bruises and a broken right femur, police said.
The baby was breathing with the help of a respirator, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.
The drama unfolded in Wissinoming shortly before noon, when paramedics were called to a home on Ditman Street near Devereaux Avenue.
Neighbors said that when medics carried the baby out of the house, they thought the worst.
"I thought the baby was dead," said a neighbor last night, who asked not to be identified.
"I felt like it was one of mine," said another, Ruth Duprey.
Neighbors said that the infant's name is Jaden and that he has a 2-year-old sister named Madison, but they knew little about the parents, who moved to the neighborhood about two months ago.
"It's just kind of shocking," said Duprey's son Cristian Chacon, 24. "I mean, I personally don't know what's the truth and what's not. I'm just hoping that the baby pulls through."
"It just ruined my whole day," neighbor Jean Kee said, with a pained expression on her face.
Her daughter Brittany Kee, a new mother, agreed.
"How could anyone hurt an infant? It's just cruel."
Special Victims Unit detectives questioned the baby's parents last night, but Vanore said they didn't expect to charge anyone until an investigation was complete.
A DHS spokeswoman confirmed that social workers were dispatched to the hospital and the home last night and were investigating