A Slidell, Louisiana man is behind bars after police say he beat his seven-week-old son to death after becoming frustrated that the infant would not stop crying.
Twenty-five-year-old Anthony Dearmas has been arrested and booked with first-degree murder, according to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office.
STPSO deputies responded to a distress call about an infant who had stopped breathing on May 10 at a residence.
Emergency Medical Technicians were able to revive the baby, who was then rushed to the hospital, where doctors found severe head trauma.
Dearmas initially lied to investigators, but later revealed that he had punched the baby off of a sofa and onto his head because the baby would not stop crying, according to the STPSO.
Dearmas was initially charged with second-degree cruelty to a juvenile, but the charges were upgraded to first-degree murder on May 15.
"How someone can do this to a defenseless infant is beyond me," St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith said. "Even more disturbing is the fact this was his own child. Mr. Dearmas is where he belongs, behind bars."
