An Atlantic City man was allegedly high on PCP when he attacked a baby who was inside a stroller Monday night, witnesses told police.
“I’m gonna grab your baby!” Stephon Whitfield said, the mother told BreakingAC. “It’s just crazy because he actually said it and then he did it.”
The baby was picked up out of his stroller and then slammed down inside it, according to the affidavit of probable cause. Video shows a group trying to get him off the baby.
The 9-month-old boy suffered scratches, bruises and swelling to the face and mouth, the report says. He also lost some teeth.
The baby’s face is swollen but he is doing good, his mother said.
Her name is not being released to protect the victim’s identity.
Whitfield, 28, has a history of drug and escape charges, including a 2017 case for possession of PCP, or phencyclidine, for which he was given a suspended sentence last year.
The new charges could mean he will have to serve prison time for that previous sentence.
Police were first called to the 1300 block of Caspian Avenue for a nude male beating at the front door of the Carver Hall apartment building, according to the report.
While police were on their way, a second call came in that an infant had been assaulted.
At first, police said, Whitfield tried to get into a man’s car and take money, but was fought off.
That’s when he apparently spies the baby stroller, and goes in.
At least two videos captured the events.
Whitfield is seen over the stroller, which topples. The mother can be heard screaming.
People around him fight him off, leaving Whitfield kneeling on the ground. Then, a man comes over and kicks and punches him.
Whitfield was naked and bleeding from the mouth when police arrived, Officer Armaini Rex wrote in the affidavit.
Multiple people on scene told the officer that Whitfield was on PCP. Eyewitness statements were recorded via body camera.
Whifield is charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and disorderly conduct.
He first was taken to the AtlantiCare Regional Center’s City Campus. He is now in the Atlantic County Justice Facility pending a detention hearing next week.
