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A Hagerstown man charged with assaulting a 2-year-old boy who died Monday told police investigators he became angry with the toddler because he “trashed” a bedroom, according to charging documents.
Brian Michael Miller, 33, appeared Tuesday via closed-circuit television in Washington County District Court for a bond-review hearing on the charges that were filed before Logan Sellers’ death.
Miller told Hagerstown Police Department investigators on Thursday that Logan was upstairs at 133 McComas St. on the evening of Oct. 5, and “trashed” a bedroom, the application for statement of charges said. Miller told police he grabbed the boy and pushed him to the floor, and the child’s face hit the floor, the charging documents said.
Police listed Miller’s address as 360 Buena Vista Ave. in Hagerstown, but the documents said he was living with Logan’s mother, Amanda Sellers, at the McComas Street address and was taking care of the boy.
Miller, who is being held at the Washington County Detention Center, appeared before District Judge Mark D. Thomas.
“Your honor, the victim is a 2-year-old boy, and he died,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michele Hansen said. Noting that the case is now a homicide investigation, she asked the judge to raise Miller’s bond from $500,000.
“There’s nothing I really can say,” Miller said when Thomas asked him if he had anything to tell the court that might be considered in reducing his bond.
Thomas increased Miller’s bond to $750,000 on the current charges of first-degree child abuse, second-degree custodial child abuse, first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
Miller is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 3 at 8:30 a.m., Thomas said.
“The State’s Attorney’s Office and the Hagerstown city police are investigating the matter. Additional charges are under consideration pending the outcome of that investigation,” Washington County Deputy State’s Attorney Joseph Michael said Tuesday.
“The defendant could be charged with additional charges in District Court, which would be followed by (criminal) informations,” Michael said. The other option would be to present the case to a grand jury for indictment, he said.
Logan Sellers was taken off life support Monday afternoon at a Washington, D.C., hospital and died shortly thereafter.
More than 100 people gathered Monday night in Hagerstown’s City Park for what was to have been a vigil for the boy, who was taken to Meritus Medical Center by Miller on Oct. 5, the charging documents said.
Logan “was found unresponsive by his caregiver,” the documents said. Medical staff told police that Logan “had a bleeding brain injury and his cardiovascular functions were being assisted by medical equipment,” the documents said.
The boy was later flown to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington.
Amanda Sellers told police she had gone to school earlier in the afternoon and left her son with Miller. Before she left school, Miller called her and said Logan was not breathing, and he was taking him to the hospital, the documents said.
Miller told Amanda Sellers that Logan was resting upstairs and that he carried the boy downstairs and put him on the couch while he prepared dinner. He later saw the boy was not breathing and called 911, the documents said.
Miller later told police he placed Logan on the couch and “later saw him jerk and get very rigid, make some kind of unusual sound, and then stop breathing,” the documents said. After calling 911, he followed instructions to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation until the ambulance arrived.
A doctor at Children’s National Medical Center said Logan had swelling of the brain “as well as what he believed was a lack of oxygen to the brain for a period of time,” the documents said.
The medical staff at Meritus had photographed Logan’s injuries, which showed bruising and abrasions to his face, the documents said.