Two-month-old son of DUI driver who killed state troopers severely injured by father, police say

A Schwenksville man has been charged with aggravated assault after, Pennsylvania State Police say, he fractured his 2-month-old son’s skull, causing brain bleeding and other injuries.

Tahir Riley, 27, also faces endangering the welfare of a child, simple assault, and reckless endangerment for the attack, which took place April 18 inside Riley’s home on Concord Road, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Riley remained in custody Monday in lieu of $1 million bail. He is being represented by the Montgomery County Public Defenders’ Office, but it was unclear Monday if he had been assigned an attorney.

The boy was born in February to Riley and Jayana Webb, 23, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.

Webb is currently serving a 27½-to-60 year sentence in state prison after pleading guilty to three counts of third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle and DUI for hitting State Police troopers Martin Mack III, 33, and Branden T. Sisca, 29, along with Reyes Rivera Oliveras, 28, with her car on I-95 on March 21, 2022.

Webb pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November, but Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara A. McDermott delayed her report date to prison to allow her to give birth to her son.

Two months after his birth, that child, whom police did not name, was taken to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, according to the affidavit for Riley’s arrest.

At the hospital’s emergency room, nurses reported that the infant’s head was “extremely swollen” and he had bruising on the left side of his face, from his ear down to his jaw, the affidavit said.

Given the nature and severity of the injuries, staff at the hospital told investigators they believed the injuries were intentionally inflicted and the result of child abuse. A doctor who routinely treats the infant told investigators that he was healthy and uninjured at a routine checkup on April 15.

In an interview with police, Riley initially said that he was unsure how his son had gotten injured, and that the boy had not been hurt when he put him to bed the night before. He said that he splits responsibility of watching the infant with Kimberly Dean, Webb’s mother, who lives with Riley and the child in Schwenksville, the affidavit said.

Riley told police he took the boy from Dean on the night of April 18 and went into the basement bedroom where he sleeps. There, he fed the baby a bottle and placed him in a bassinet to sleep.

Early the next morning, Riley put the baby into a swing seat, he said, and fell back asleep. He awoke not long after, he said, hearing Dean screaming about his son’s injuries.

Riley later admitted to detectives that he may have been more aggressive when handling his son due to stress and lack of sleep, but said he did so unintentionally, according to the affidavit.

Dean, Webb’s mother, told police that the infant was not hurt when she gave him to Riley, the affidavit said. She had gone into the basement the next morning to get the boy after hearing him crying, and noticed the injuries to his body when she carried him upstairs.

Webb had been driving a car registered in Dean’s name on the day of the crash that killed the troopers, according to investigators.

Just before 12:40 a.m. Webb was driving south on I-95 when her car was recorded moving at 113 mph by Sisca and Mack. They pulled over Webb, but then received a call about Oliveras, a nearby pedestrian on the interstate, and left Webb to respond.

After the troopers let her go, Webb posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Why the cop pull me & he say im doing 110 ina 50 (followed by four (4) crying face emojis),” according to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Sisca’s wife, Brittany.

Webb then began driving again and struck Sisca, Mack, and Oliveras at 78 mph, according to investigators.

The impact of the crash threw the victims over the median. Witnesses attempted to perform CPR, but all three were pronounced dead on the scene. Webb stopped her vehicle in the shoulder nearby and remained on scene, officials said.

A forensic toxicologist later testified in a criminal proceeding that Webb’s blood alcohol content was 0.211, nearly three times the legal limit, at the time of the crash, and that there were active components of marijuana in her blood.

Before the crash, Webb had spent time at Vibe Hookah Lounge, a speakeasy on Chelten Avenue in Germantown that did not have a valid liquor license or business permits, according to Brittany Sisca’s lawsuit.