BANGOR, Maine — The teenage father of a 3-month-old boy who died on Nov. 25 was indicted Wednesday on a charge of manslaughter and placed under arrest, Bangor police said.
Dustin Brown, 18, was indicted by a Penobscot County grand jury Wednesday afternoon for his alleged involvement in the death of his son, Xander C. Brown.
The autopsy, performed by the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta on Nov. 26, determined the cause of death to be “inflicted trauma.”
Lt. Tim Reid, lead detective for Bangor’s Criminal Investigation Division, said it was obvious from the autopsy’s findings that trauma was inflicted on the infant, specifically “traumatic head injuries.”
“How we believe those injuries were inflicted is not being released at this time,” Reid said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Bangor police station.
Dustin Brown is being held at the Penobscot County Jail and is scheduled to make an initial court appearance at 1 p.m. Thursday at Penobscot Judicial Center, according to police. Manslaughter, a Class A crime, carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Reid said a family member made the initial 911 call at 4:07 p.m. Nov. 25 to report that a male child wasn’t breathing. Bangor police and Fire Department personnel went to 94 Thatcher St. and the child was immediately taken from his home to Eastern Maine Medical Center. At 5:40 p.m., hospital staff members notified Bangor police that Xander Brown had died.
Reid said that as a result of the investigation conducted by Detectives Brent Beaulieu and Timothy Cotton — which included witness statements from several people in the home on the day of the incident — charges were filed.
Police said they consider the incident a domestic violence crime.
Reid, citing recent crime statistics released by the state and compiled by the Bangor Daily News, said seven of the 25 homicides in Maine in 2012 happened in Bangor.
The baby, nicknamed “Xanderbear,” was born to Brown and Alania Cain on Aug. 22, according to his obituary, which ran in the Bangor Daily News on Nov. 28.
“Mommy and Daddy love you so very much, Xanderbear,” it states. “We will never forget you. You will forever be in our hearts and memories. Everything we do from now on will be in memory of you.”
Sick
Put a face to the story. http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/11/27/obituaries/xander-charles-brown/ Sad story all around.
putting a face to this article helps you how…
What a beautiful little boy.
you know some people 18 or 19 years old dont act there age babies are not toys not to be shaken or thrown around or punched
Unfortunately, many 18 and 19 year olds do act their age. The fact is they are not full matured biologically. Some will also be more so than others and some will be less so than others, we are all a little different.
Obviously, I do not condone what happened here, but I do understand the nature of how it can happen.
Babies should never be handled with anything but gentleness, but shaken baby injuries and death are generally a response to the frustration of not being able to calm a crying baby. Newborns do have a shrill cry that does get on our nerves. That is a feature to let us know they are in distress for whatever reason. Babies can swallow quite a bit of air when they cry and this exacerbates a situation of colic. If you have an infant that cries excessively, enlist the help of family members, and/or seek help from a pediatrician.
The problem is that they ARE biologically mature but not mentally mature!
If they were, they’d be able to cope with colic, 4 hour feedings, diaper rash, teething, terrible two’s…… but that gets in the way of being a kid yourselves.
It’s easier to change a condom than a diaper….
They are not completely biologically mature, because the brain is maturing past the teen years into our twenties. Many of them can and do cope with the needs and crying of an infant but clearly not all of them can and do.
Then all of those who do shake an infant are not always teen or twenty something parents. There are older parents who lack the necessary impulse control under extreme stress. That could be a neurobiological or emotional issue. Very few of those who have injured or killed their infants had any intention of doing so, but in one tragic instant have done so.
That is why I have posted that we should offer to help young parents or new parents if we can do so. Offer to babysit for free for a couple of hours if you have the time. Offer to take a newborn so a parent can nap if they need to. Tell a new parent they can call you in the middle of the night when things aren’t going well.Talk to them until they are calmer or go to them and help if you can. It will usually require less than two hours of your time and it will mean so much to a parent and the baby.
Since I’m a two finger typer, I’ll just say that 13 yr olds can biologically reproduce. Mentally is a whole different story biologically speaking (they are different!). As far as ‘help’ goes, historically grand parents, aunts and uncles took the place of the gov’t help, but they may be as distanced from the sense of responsibility as the parents are: todays attitude at its best, unfortunately. We’re obviously from different generations….
I am from a generation where grandparents and extended family stepped in and helped without being asked. It was probably more expected in my mother’s generation. But my Mom died when I was 23, my Dad died six years before that and my grandparent were all deceased. My firstborn had one grandparent who had had multiple strokes and could not be expected to help much. I had my first child when I was 38 so there was little extended family support for me. I know what it feels like to go it alone, although my husband was very supportive.
With younger kids having babies, grandparents are often still working full time and may not have enough time to support the parents of their grandchildren in the way they might like to. I don’t expect the government to step in necessarily but hospitals and pediatricians can offer some help. Many hospitals compete for the OB patients and offering and giving extended services could be a way of winning those patients. Pediatricians can win a bigger market share by having an all night nurse (service) available. Having someone to call in the middle of the night when a baby is screaming instead of sleeping could be a huge plus for a lot of new parents. Sometimes just a few words of reassurance and encouragement can ready a new parent to try again to comfort that screaming kid calmly.
All that be as it may, and I am more than aware of ALL you have stated, my Ma used to call her sister States away when she got frustrated with the 6 of us I’m the oldest and her Gran)), there is NO reason to shake a baby. Saying that there should be gov’t help for babies having babies is wrong. Everybody has an out or someone to call when in such DIRE straits. Family, not an agency, is what’s needed…. END
My Mom took in foster kids, all infants. One was an SBS baby with severe injuries. I had exposure to infants from the time I was seven. Some of them were criers, some were happy content infants. I was sure when I had my first at 38 years of age, I was ready. NOTHING could have prepared me for our first night. When I had done all of the things I knew how to do, she was still screaming. I was frustrated, guilty, and defeated. I put her in her crib and went to get her Dad. She went to sleep in the interim. Apparently all she wanted was to be left alone so she could sleep.
I had no parents living, no grandparents living, my friends kids were all approaching college ages, not infants. I literally had no one to call in the wee hours of that morning. Luckily, she was not my husband’s first child and he was very supportive that night and every night thereafter.
I agree that family is what is needed, but community based services, not government, can be the next line of defense.
BDN will probably delete me again because this comment is in same vein as a previous one, but: If the government would stop paying kids to have kids, there might not be so many abused children out there. Family help or not, if kids are given financial incentives to have kids, they will not learn to be responsible adults.
The government does not provide financial incentives for teens to have kids. Yes, an already pregnant teen can get medical benfits and then a cash benefit with food stamps can be given to the parent with the child. However, even most teens don’t want the work involved with a child for 300/month plus food stamps.
I know many teen parents (maybe because I am the mother of a teenager and a twentysometing). They all work to support their kids. Most work full time and still qualify for food stamps. What does that say about Maine corporations?? I know many couples that are still together, both working, and caring for their children. I don’t know of anyone who has hurt their children.
I have offered to babysit for many of these kids free of charge so these parents can grab a nap if they need it. I have slept on a couch to take care of a baby overnight so a parent can get a nights sleep. These are small things that many of could do and know that we have had a positive impact on the life of a parent and child.
Uh, it is my understanding that the government pays x amount for each child….
Actually, Dustin and Allie did not receive public assistance, as they still lived with our (Allie’s and my) mother.
Or keep it in your pants and don’t have kids until you grow enough to raise them right.
Sometimes a baby is unintended even with birth control. I suppose complete abstinence would work, but we know that is just not a likely scenario.
We’ve got abortion clinics, social service facilities, and people waiting in the wings for a baby.
you should never judge until you know the whole story…
The term ‘traumatic head injury’ is all I need to judge.
and that is your opinion. hopefully you wouldn’t be so quick to judge when/if you have this happen to someone you know.
Hopefully you will never sit on a jury then with those preconceived notions.
I hope so too, but I believe that would exclude me from jury duty in a similarly-related case, wouldn’t it?
That is good to hear!
So many ppl are trying and convicting people in the court of public opinion here. Makes me wonder sometimes if people can muster the right attitude to sit on a jury. Some people here worry me. Hopefully most is nothing but bluster.
I made that mistake in Massachusetts when I was a very young worker in the child care field. Turns out the baby’s brain was “traumatized” during the birthing process. Luckily for our client she had records and a doctor to stand up for her.
Never made that mistake again.
There is always that possibility, yes, but considering there were only 19 birth trauma-related infant deaths and 311 assault-related infant deaths in the entire country in 2010, that is highly unlikely.
Let’s remember that indictment and conviction are not synonyms…
People who don’t know the difference between the two likely won’t know what ‘synonym’ means…but at least you tried ;)
Thats easy, synonym is like the stuff you put on your toast in the morning. duhhhhhhhh
ahahahahaha
Haha, good point!
Gawd you supercilious elites really are better than the rest of us working fools aren’t you?
Probably :)
I work hard and I know what a synonym is. I know the difference between indictment and conviction — quit trying to demonize education and knowledge, those aren’t bad things.
Yeah I know wolfie.. We both work hard.. That is why we’re on this web-site 24/7. I’m retired, what’s your excuse?
Potatoes can’t grow in frozen soil.
What i posted was my opinion and anger speaking but i do agree that its also that “one minute tragedy”. Young, first time parents need more free help & counseling.
The counseling needs to be done BEFORE the baby is conceived.
…and counseling does what? The kid’s still hungry at 2:15AM and you are still due at work at 6.
how many shaken baby accidents have happened with parents above the age of 18-19? this could happen to anyone at anytime considering the context of earlier comments “only takes a moment for a shake to go bad”….
Where does it say the baby was shaken?
It doesn’t…..point of fact thus far…..
IF this guy is guilty then he is just as guilty as the guy who took the lives of the kids in Newtown. No more no less. ANYONE who makes excuses for this type of behavior is as guilty by making excuses as those who knew about his behavior and did nothing to intervene. I do not believe that the teenager was in fear of his life therefore he is guilty of murder/manslaughter. A three month old… No excuses allowed. A capitol crime deserves a capitol punishment. Enough is enough.
Rebecca, very few of those who shake a baby have any intention of hurting that child. Think about how this is reaction that many parents and caregivers have (of those who have hurt infants). People shake infants as an impulsive reaction to the stress of an infants consistent crying. School shooters have to plan and acquire weapons, it is NOT the same. I wish it were. Many school shooters are stopped before they cause injury. I wish we could stop more people before they give in to the impulse. This is an impulse that is felt, acted on, and completed, usually in under a minute, and there is no undoing the damage. I would bet 99.999% would give their own lives if they could turn back that clock.
Where does it say the baby was shaken? Head trauma can be caused in many different ways.
I guess I did make an assumption based on the facts that he was not charged immediately and that the charge was manslaughter not murder.
Finally, someone with a factual point related to the limited info presented re: “inflicted head trauma” rather than rambling on about an assumption…..thank-you!
The manslaughter charge is indicative of intent. Rest assure, that if a murder charge was warranted, and if it fell under the guidelines and met the legal standards of the charge, he would have been charged with murder. It obviously did not meet the standard, And there’s no assumption related to the charge, it’s either one or the other.
Why in He** would the BDN have a picture of Tim Reid instead of a picture of the father. Is Mr. Reid going to run for some kind of office?
I had the same thought. Cops LOVE to see their picture in the paper.
You are kidding, right? How can you justify any action that involves hurting a child? What is done can’t be changed. Put him in general population and hope justice is done. There is NO excuse for hurting a child in any way, shape or form.
I am not defending this young man,nor anyone else who hurts a child. I have an infant grandchild.
I was hoping to help people understand how and why this does happen so that maybe one or more persons will step up and help a new parent so there are fewer tragedies.
Some folks are evil despite help so just deal w/it and accept the fact that a child is dead at the hands of a parent. By the way, speaking of parents, where was the other parent while this was going on? If she was aware, she too should be charged.
And this is exactly the attitude which lends aid and comfort to those who have no sense of compassion towards those who cannot defend themselves. It is usually offered by those who also have no care or compassion for the defenseless. Only those who are like themselves. Hense the moaning and groaning about how it wasn’t his fault …he didn’t mean too… it was an accident… and on and on and on. After all why should babies be protected when they can be destroyed at will only 3 months before the due date? No loss .. RIGHT? (sorry for the sarcasm for those who actually understand)
Murder is an intentional killing of another person. Manslaughter is not. I don’t think raysgirl is justifying what happened in the least, just pointing out that the death was not intentional, as opposed to the Newtown deaths, which were.
I agree. It’s obvious that one is premeditated and one is not, and I doubt that this crime could ever be proved as premeditated.. I don’t think anyone is justifying a crime involving a child, laws (in every state) distinguish between the types of crimes and the charges associated with them,; not district attorney’s and not judges.
When you shake an infant it is WITH the knowledge that you are going to inflict pain & hurt, not to mention trauma.. I strongly disagree with your statement that ” very few of those who shake a baby have any intention of hurting that child”.
Oh so we should just forgive them for such a crime because hindsight is 20/20? What about the person who commits a heinous crime out of anger, should they be let go because the wish they didn’t act that way to begin with?
Seriously…you want the State of Maine to kill this 18 year old? …AND ANYONE who accepts that manslaughter is a different crime than a premeditated murder like Newtown? WOW! Do you include the legislature that enacted our criminal code which recognizes the distinction – as do 49 other states and the federal courts? The comments calling for death and throwing him in “the general population” so he can be beaten are wacky and certainly make me quite relieved that we do not have the death penalty in Maine. We have a criminal code based on centuries of thought, jury trials and a sentencing structure that you would surely miss if you actually had to live under the justice system you espouse. For example – your comments simply challenging ANY “rights” of a father would not go down too well in certain areas of Afganistan…and might subject YOU to a knock on your door in the middle of the night.
As do we all, this 18 year old has a right be tried (by the way- not everyone who is charged gets convicted). If found guilty he’ll get a sentence taking into account the particular facts of his case- which we do not know yet. In the meantime I would follow the advice of Raysgirl and do something to assure that teen parents are educated to recognize when things are getting out of control. Offer to babysit for young parents so they can get a break. Though, actually, I’m not sure I’d want someone who wants to kill an 18 year old babysitting my kid.
What part of “he killed a baby’ do you not understand? You would want him out on the srteets to kill again? No wonder there is so much violence nowadays, the perpetrators can’t see that they did wrong because of their followings.
Oh Please.
Our law is rife with exceptions.
Passion is a mitigating factor. Premeditation is a mitigating factor, Intent is a mitigating factor. …and there are hundreds more including “State of mind at the time of the action.
BTW EVERYTHING is not about Newtown.
I don’t get it either, why so many are making excuses for someone who caused the death of a child???? Its black and white in my book: you kill, you pay to the highest degree the law will allow. Do you realize all you who are making excuses, that what you are really doing is telling the accused that it was okay, because he didn’t understand. Or its okay because you are a young father. That’s giving a license to kill in the future if he gets no punishment.
It is never right or acceptable to inflict such trauma on an infant…..such a shame….
When I was 17, none of my classmates were ready for the responsibility of a lifetime of commitment to anything, let alone a baby. Oh, it happened followed by a shotgun marriage, but never this.
If it was a ‘minute of rage, frustration, loss of control’, couldn’t that be a defense for many adult killings? I know it is a common defense, but I never could get THAT angry, especially to my own offspring.
I was the oldest of 6 and even washed out many of their cotton diapers, plus 2 of my own, so I have an idea.
You answered your own question. (You were the oldest of six in a responsible family) Everyone isn’t so lucky.
Yeah but let’s not have easy access to birth control or sex ed in schools because abstinence clearly works so well……
Excuse me, but we have “easy access to birth control” and we have an abortion clinic, and we allow the morning after pill, and we have sex education in most of our high schools and a few of our Junior high schools.
So what’s the point of your post? We need more? Maybe I should send my 9-year-old charge out with a condom and a map to the abortion clinic?
Politicizing every issue isn’t helping. Perhaps you have noticed?
Shaking a baby is a failure to control an impulse, usually under circumstances of extreme stress. An infant or newborns cry is shrill and grating. It is like that so we don’t ignore the needs of the very young, but when it goes on and on and on, sometimes for no apparent reason, then it becomes more and more stressful.
Parents need to be told, if they have met all of the baby’s needs, and it persists in crying inconsolably, it is OK to lay the baby down gentle and walk away for a few minutes. Because today, most households require two incomes, both parents have to work. If they have been up for several nights in a row, they are sleep deprived and exhausted. The odds of giving in to an impulse go up.
Family members of new parents, friends of new parents, can make a great deal of difference. Offer to help. Offer to sleep on the couch and take baby duty for a night and let a new parent or parents sleep. This is the biggest and probably the best gift you can give a new parent. Help them know they don’t have to be in it alone, that is OK to want and need help.
Hospitals can do more by extending services to parents without cost or penalty. Give new parents a place to call for advice and support. A little support can go a long way to helping parents and their new infants.
Thank you for posting this information, it is very good advice and I hope it helps someone.
Most animals take better care of their young. There is no excuse for such an act. None.
No excuse, but there is always a reason.
Please take a minute to check out this site and share it with anyone who has or cares for a young child.
THE PERIOD OF PURPLE CRYING
http://www.purplecrying.info/
Thanks, for sharing.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING.
Thank you to the two who thumbs-downed a link that could potentially safe an infant’s life. Jacka**es….
And I rest my case. Idiocy is abound…
Boy it seems like there have been a lot of young children getting hurt in the past few years.
I agree….. WHY?
“Seven of the 25 homicides in Maine in 2012 happened in Bangor.”
No surprise there…
Unless you can tell us why the comment is not real productive. I’m not criticizing you personally, but One of the BDN reporters today told us that 2012 was a more deadly year on the roads than 2011. She failed to even guess at a reason rendering her story worthless to drivers.
Care to hazard a guess why Bangor has become the murder capital of Maine?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s no secret that Bangor’s crime problems have escalated dramatically over the past couple of years. It’s turned into the vermin pit of the state.
too bad ya cant pick your parents…my prayers for all involved..i feel as if todays parents well a lot of them shouldnt raise a chicken..some kind of parenting killing your own child…but god will deal with you…
I have scanned over all of everyone’s comments that they have posted. I happen to know Dustin personally. You might say we were rather close. But that is besides the point. Xander was not a fussy child at all. He was actually a very calm and happy baby. So everyone’s assumptions on this matter that he was fussy baby was incorrect. Yes all of you do not know the facts on what actually happened with this young man the night that Xander passed, but that doesn’t mean that Dustin is pure evil. Or that he had evil intentions toward Xander. I am positive Dustin loved his son. I am sure he did NOT mean to harm him. I am sure it was one of those moments where you act on impulse, and I’m sure most women would agree with me on this. Most men act on their impulses and normally do NOT think before they act, and this may have been one of those very moments. I am NOT defending what Dustin did, but I do NOT think he did this with the intention of hurting his own infant son. I do think that maybe he wasn’t as ready to be a father as he might have thought he was, but that does not excuse what he did. I know from experience that it is MANDITORY you watch the purple crying video now in hospitals before you can bring an infant home with you. So I am pretty sure Dustin had watched that video. I also believe that you should pay for the bad choices you make I life. In Dustin’s case harming his son. He may or may not serve time for this, but that is up to the judge and we have NO say on the matter obviously. Also as for the person I read them stating their opinion saying that ” babies should not be having babies” I think that it does not matter the age, but it more matters on the person maturity and their way of thinking when it comes to things. Just because there are a lot of young or teenage parents out there now a days does not make them ALL bad parents because they are young or as older people would call them “babies”. There are some 16-17 year old parents who act more mature then people in their mid 30s. So being young yes it can affect their parenting skills but it does not automatically make them bad parents. Being a bad parent is not age related. Yes new parents are not as up to date or as quick to act as parents who have had children before. There are parents out there in their mid 30’s that are NEW parents, but are the targets? No. Most people would automatically assume that because the are older they are going to make better parents. That is CRAP. So stop picking on the teen or young parents and start thinking about the whole picture. Just thought I would put my input on this. Also just because people have been schooled about the issues does not mean that they would follow that training in the situation. In a perfect world that would be true. But the world we live in is FAR from perfect.
there are few people in the world i reserve my right to say this about…child killers, molesters. perverts…all should rot in hell
One third of the people who are abused grow up to perpetuate abuse …
http://www.quora.com/Mental-Health-Advocacy/Do-abused-people-become-abusers-What-stops-abused-people-becoming-abusers.
Factors that determine the child’s likelihood to become an abuser include: Who the perpetrator was,The age and roles of the victim and abuser
How long the abuse continued, The presence of a mitigating adult, The ability to frame the abuse as wrong
This child seems (from the previous story and this one) to have all but one of the indicators to become an abuser of children when he became an adult,
SO; the question becomes; if this child had lived, would you feel the same way about his crimes in 17 years? and, if so, isn’t it better under your beliefs to have him die now?
Parents are the ones who are responsible for their children and their up bringing. The majority of teens today who have children are irresponsable. They are not emotionally ready for raising children and that is why we have more then ever grandparents raising their grand children. Teens do not realize the life long altering changes that take place when you have children. The manjority of teens today with children are on some type of state aid or assistance.. In my day the father got a job and supported the family and the mother raised the children. Young teens of today don;t have a clue about responsability, a lot of them don’t even have jobs but their having babies. The only ones we have to blame for “Babies having Babies” is ourselves. Until children are taught self respect, values, responsability and morals we will continue to read horror stories like this.
“You say The majority of teens today who have children are irresponsable (sic)”
You have numbers and statistics to back that up? maybe a link?
Which makes you no better that the people you rail against.
Oh BTW does he get a trial first under your system?
Thats a start.Now what about the other thousands of babies murdered on that same day and every day.
Get off your soapbox Bruce. Abortion is legal. the word “murder” is a legal term meaning unlawful homicide.
Why not just a murder charge? Once again those who are unable to defend themselves are failed by the justice system. Why is it every time that an infant is killed it’s always manslaughter? The justice system acts as though their lives are not as valuable as the perpetrators.
Murder is always premeditated (under the law) most of the time people do not plan to kill an infant.
Too many babies having babies!!!!! I just read an article of a young father whos infant would not stop crying, the father so overwhelmed he called the police for help because he didn’t know how to handle the situation!!! I wish more young parents would reach out or have resources available for them.Weather we like it or not the parents are getting younger and younger 13, 14 even 12 for godsakes. How is a child only 14 supposed to know how or have the patients for a baby, these kids don’t have patients with an ipod without throwing it across the room cause an app won’t download and then they are entrusted with a tiny life!!! It should be mandatory for young mothers and fathers to take extreme parenting classes before having the baby. There is a drinking age, a driving age, permit tests, driving tests, you have to have a certain credit score to obtain material items but anybody at any age in any situation can have a live human little baby no experience or education required. No baby should have to live their first few months on earth abused and beaten because they were doing what they do CRY!!! If you are frustrated with the crying, please, put the baby down in a safe place the crib or a blanket on the living room floor and step outside for a break or in the other room, use headphones or put music on anything to calm down to the a break from the crying! REACH OUT! Someone will help you!
I would suggest sterilization of any parent that harms a child. He has killed one, he should not be allowed to ever have another.