Mother Sentenced For Throwing Her Infant Son Onto The Pavement
Sunday, April 13, 2025, 10:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
WASHINGTON, DC.- A 34-year-old Washington, D.C., woman will be spending the next five years in prison after being sentenced for throwing her three-month-old son to the pavement, causing the infant to suffer severe brain injuries in early September 2024.
On Friday, April 11, 2025, Shanta Watson, 34, of Washington, D.C., appeared in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia and was sentenced to 60 months in prison for her previously entered guilty plea to one count of first-degree Cruelty to Children.
According To U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin
According to U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., and D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith, Watson, who is the biological mother of a three-month-old son. On September 5, 2024, Watson had an argument with her former boyfriend, the father of her infant son. When he left her apartment, Watson walked after him, holding the baby in her arms and standing outside the apartment complex.
Watson then began to walk after her former boyfriend on the sidewalk, and when she got to the end of the sidewalk, she stepped onto the parking lot. Watson then began to yell at him and intentionally threw her infant onto the pavement. Watson then casually picked up the baby, as if nothing had happened, and attempted to walk back to her apartment building.
Police Officers later recovered video footage capturing Watson deliberately throwing the baby boy onto the pavement.
As a result of Watson’s conduct, her infant son was transported to the hospital in the NICU Unit. The baby boy suffered multiple skull fractures, multiple points of bleeding in the brain, swelling to the back of his head, and elevated liver enzymes. Doctors ruled the injuries to be consistent with Non-Accidental Trauma.
U.S. Attorney Martin and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
