Las Vegas man charged in death of 16-month-old girl

The baby had been to the hospital before with injuries, but on Thursday, she didn’t leave again, and one man was arrested in connection with her death.

Quie’sear , 16-months, died from injuries suffered when she was shaken back and forth and then dropped on a bed without anything to brace her fall, according to a Las Vegas police arrest report.

Doctors diagnosed the child with retinal hemorrhages, a subdural hemotoma and bruises on her chest, neck and head, and she was on life support for more than 36 hours.

Detrail Young, 24, was arrested Thursday morning and faces charges of murder and child abuse with substantial bodily harm in the child’s death, according to the report.

Young and his girlfriend, Danille Lewis, were Quie’sear’s guardians. They had assumed responsibility of the child after her mother, Lewis’ cousin, stated she did not want to take on the care of the child. The child’s grandmother was Quie’sear’s primary caretaker, but she recently died.

Quie’sear had been living with Lewis and Young for a month.

On Tuesday evening Lewis went to work, leaving Young in charge of Quie’sear and her 17-year-old daughter.

When Lewis returned home, she found Quie’sear unresponsive, 911 was called, CPR was administered and she was taken to University Medical Center.

During initial questioning, Young vehemently denied causing any harm to the child, but during a polygraph test administered by police, Young said he shook the girl to quiet her cries.

Young demonstrated his actions with Quie’sear using a doll, and police witnessed him placing the doll on the ground in a seated position, then walking over and picking up the doll with his hands under its arms and raising it up to chest level.

He then said to the doll, “Why’s you crying like that,” before shaking the doll in a back and forth motion saying in a stern tone, “What’s wrong with you?” and “Be quiet, be like a normal kid,” according to the arrest report.

Young said that Quie’sear cried whenever Young’s 17-year-old daughter left the apartment, and that he was the only one home at the time.

After shaking Quie’sear, Young put her back down in a seated position while he watched TV, and when he thought she was falling asleep, he told her to go to bed.

When Quie’sear did not respond, Young picked her up and carried her to the bed where he dropped her on the mattress without bracing her fall.

Lewis spoke to Young and her daughter three times while at work, and had no reason to believe anything was wrong.

This was not the first time Lewis witnessed Young shake Quie’sear. She told police she had seen him do it on two separate occasions to quiet her cries, and she told him not to, though she did not believe they were significant enough to cause harm, according to the report.

Young also admitted to Lewis that he shook Quie’sear on the night that she died, Lewis told police.

Young told police that Quie’sear had hospitalized May 25 for a severe allergic reaction that caused swelling to her face and throat. He told police that a laceration on her forehead was due to a fall down two stairs and did not require medical attention. Young is currently in custody awaiting a 48-hour hearing.

Contact Rochel Leah Goldblatt at rgoldblatt@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264.