May 15--A South Side man has been charged with throwing a piece of concrete through a window of an Englewood home, hitting a 7-month-old baby and fracturing her skull earlier this month.
Jeremy O'Neal, 25, of the 9500 block of South Houston Avenue, was charged with one count of aggravated battery to a child under 13 causing permanent disability, according to a police statement released Friday.
About 8:25 p.m. on May 3, O'Neal went to a home in the 1400 block of West 73rd Place and demanded to see a 19-year-old woman who sometimes lived there, according to the baby's mother and police.
Janica Lee, the mother of 7-month-old Jamyah Lee, said she heard O'Neal step onto the front porch of her home and begin "yelling and screaming" at her father.
"He said, 'OK, since she's not here, you're all fitting to pay for this,'" Lee said.
O'Neal left, returned minutes later, exchanged more words with Lee's father and then tossed the piece of concrete through a window, Lee said.
"All I heard is the glass breaking and my baby screaming," she said. "I just stood there and froze."
Family members found the 7-month-old inside a bedroom with a head wound and the brick laying next to her. They called 911 and Jamyah was rushed to Comer Children's Hospital.
Jamyah was released two days later. Doctors told Lee her daughter had suffered two fractures and there was bleeding on her brain. Jamyah will likely have to take medication to prevent seizures, Lee said.
O'Neal, who court records show has a lengthy arrest record, was taken into custody Thursday. He was expected to appear in bond court Friday afternoon, police said.
