Man accused of biting baby’s neck found hanged

READING, Pa. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania say a man accused of biting a 1-year-old child’s neck has been pronounced dead after guards found him hanging in his prison cell.

State police say 34-year-old Aaron Barragan-Cruz, of Reading, was found hanging by bed sheets in his Berks County Prison cell at 9:30 p.m. Friday. The county coroner’s office pronounced him dead a little more than an hour later. An autopsy is planned.

Barragan-Cruz was charged with biting the child and stabbing the child’s mother. Both were taken to Reading Hospital, and the boy was later flown to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. There has been no word on their conditions.

Authorities say the defendant told them he “snapped” before the attack. The woman had obtained a protection-from-abuse order against him two days earlier.