Nov 22, 2016 2 min read

A West Brownsville man accused of assaulting his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, leaving the boy severely injured, was arraigned Tuesday morning on charges including attempted homicide and placed in Washington County jail on $100,000 bond set by District Judge Robert Redlinger.

Benjamin Glenn Lesczynski, 26, of 501 Main St., is also charged by state police with two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment.

An ambulance was dispatched to the home on Main Saturday morning for a report of an unresponsive child. Zachary Andrew Sumey was found with life-threatening injuries. Lesczynski told police the boy was playing in the living room with his children and the boy’s mother when he went out to the car to get his cigarettes. He told police that when he returned Zachary was on the dining room floor and that he believed the may have hit his face when his mother got him out of bed.

The boy was taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, where emergency surgery was done for treatment of a brain injury. Police said during the surgery, a hemorrhage could not be controlled and the surgery had to be stopped. The boy was put into a medically induced coma and given a poor prognosis. A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday information on his condition is not being released.

Brittany Sumey, the boy’s mother, told police Lesczynski told her they had to get their stories straight and to say she was in the living room. She told police that she had gone downstairs and that Lesczynski met her on the steps, acting oddly. One of the other children told Lesczynski that Zachary was getting up. Sumey told police that she went back upstairs. About 10 minutes later, Lesczynski came upstairs and told her the 2-year-old was unresponsive. She found her son on the dining room floor, with vomit and some blood coming out of his nose and mouth.

Police determined that Lesczynski was the last adult to be with Zachary. A child abuse expert at the Pittsburgh Child Advocacy Center at the hospital told police that the boy had been a victim of child abuse.

Lesczynski faces a Dec. 5 preliminary hearing before District Judge Joshua Kanalis.