Mentone man sentenced to nine years in prison for battering baby

A 21-year-old Mentone man has been sentenced to nine years in prison on Wednesday for battering an infant in 2023 who had to be airlifted to Fort Wayne due to the injuries. 

According to court documents on Oct. 2 a jury found Kaiden Meade, 21, of Mentone, guilty of domestic battery to a person less than 14 years of age resulting in serious injury, a Level 3 Felony. 

The charge stem from an incident on Feb 26, 2023, when Kosciusko County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a report of a baby sustaining injuries. At the scene Meade told officers prior to the baby's injuries he had put the child to bed, but claimed they woke up an hour later and were fussy. Meade claimed that when he went to pick up the child from their crib he dropped them over the crib, further detailing he saw the baby's neck snapped backward when he attempted to catch them. 

While at a local hospital, Meade told paramedics that he picked the child up from a crib and tripped over a baby gate in a doorway. Medical staff later advised the baby would need to be airlifted to Lutheran Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Fort Wayne where they were admitted for a brain bleed. An assessment showed the child sustained pre-retinal, intraretinal, and sub-retinal hemorrhages, and a subdural hematoma.

A responding EMT from the scene reported to detectives Meade had told her he picked up the baby and lost his grip, causing the child to almost fall into the crib. Meade never mentioned tripping over a baby gate when the EMT and responding deputies at the scene were getting a trauma history about the incident. 

Deputies questioned the child's mother about if Meade's personality and if he was ever aggressive. The child's mother stated Meade was sometimes aggressive when he was mad, but claimed he never took out that aggression toward the child. While at the residence an officer also asked about a hole in a bedroom door at the residence, and the mother said Meade had punched the door.

The mother later disclosed there had been a prior incident where the child had an unexplained facial injury while in Meade's care that he claimed had happened while he was co-sleeping with the child.

Riley Hospital's Child Protection Team's evaluation stated the offered traumatic history did not adequately explain the child's injuries. It was determined the child's injuries were non-accidental and inconsistent with the reported history given by Meade. During the trial a medical examiner testified that the child’s injuries were “highly suggestive of non-accidental trauma” and that the injuries in this case were similar to ones she has seen in fatal incidents.

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, Meade was sentenced in Kosciusko Superior Court I to 12 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, with nine years executed and three years suspended on probation. Meade has 27 days of jail time credit. The judge also made a domestic violence determination in Meade's case, which prohibits Meade from possessing a firearm for life.