Daycare owner separated baby's brain hemispheres when she slammed him on changing table: Cops

Inset: Brooke Ashley Reiner (Johnston County Jail). Background: Reiner's home in the 200 block of Cloverdale Drive in Smithfield, N.C., where Reiner allegedly injured an 8-month-old boy, cops say (Google Maps).

An 8-month-old boy has a "slim" chance of survival after a woman who ran an unlicensed daycare in North Carolina slammed him into a changing table, causing severe damage to his brain, cops say.

Brooke Ashley Reiner is facing two counts of intentional child abuse with serious bodily injury and one count of providing child care without a license with serious injury.

The investigation began on July 6, when doctors at WakeMed Raleigh hospital contacted the Smithfield Police Department about a child who suffered "severe head trauma" that was "non-accidental," a probable cause arrest affidavit said.

Reiner runs Sunrise to Sunset Childcare from her home in the 200 block of Cloverdale Drive. She told cops the boy woke up from a nap and she was changing his diaper when his "eyes rolled back in his head, and he began to have a seizure," the complaint said.

She said she grabbed the baby's shoulders and tried to get his attention by shaking him, cops wrote. The defendant said the boy's body "stiffened and his arms coiled up into his chest."

Paramedics rushed to the scene and transported him to the hospital.

Authorities say Reiner slammed the baby's head and threw him into the changing table. She also allegedly hit the child in his face, head and abdomen with her hand.

Doctors said the boy suffered a brain bleed and a "separation" of his brain's hemispheres, according to cops.

"The child remains in intensive care after having undergone brain surgery where his brain hemispheres separated as well as external bruising," the affidavit said. "The survivability for the child is slim."

A grand jury indicted Reiner earlier this month.

More from Law&Crime: Daycare owner watching 6 kids failed to notice a 5-month-old baby stopped breathing after starting to drink at 4 a.m. that day

As the Raleigh News & Observer first reported, Reiner wrote on her Facebook page in November 2024 that she started the daycare service as a way to "stay at home as a single mom" for her then-6-month-old. She said she was "working" on getting licensed and hoped to receive one within a few months.

Reiner remained in the Johnston County Jail on a $5 million bond. Her next court date is set for Aug. 5.