Police officer accused of child abuse extradited to York County

The police officer accused of felony child abuse and neglect in the injuries of his 3-month-old son has been extradited back to York County from the Charlotte jail where he had been since his arrest Friday.

If convicted, Robert Jeffrey Taylor, 45, could face up to 30 years in prison.

Taylor resigned from the York Police Department last week. Before that, he worked in Lancaster and in Rock Hill as an officer. He is expected to have a bond hearing in front of a magistrate Thursday after deputies booked him into the York County Detention Center.

Taylor waived extradition Monday and had been waiting to be picked up by State Law Enforcement Division agents. Thom Berry, a SLED spokesman, said SLED investigated the abuse and neglect case because Taylor worked for years at the Rock Hill Police Department.

Authorities have said the baby boy had brain and neck injuries when Taylor and the child’s mother, Audrey Schurig, took the child to Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill in mid-February. The child was flown to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, where he remains hospitalized.

Schurig, 36, who resigned Tuesday from the Chester Police Department, is charged with child neglect. She is scheduled for an extradition hearing in Charlotte on Thursday morning and if given a bond on the fugitive warrant she faces in Charlotte, could be back in York County to turn herself in and have the neglect warrant served as early as Thursday, said her lawyer Gary Lemel of Rock Hill.

Schurig worked for the York County Sheriff’s Office and Tega Cay Police Department before being hired in Chester, where she was a sergeant over a patrol shift.

Taylor until last week was a corporal for a patrol shift in York. Taylor was a patrol officer in Lancaster but had risen to the rank of sergeant during his years in Rock Hill.

The traffic and criminal cases both officers had pending as arresting officers in courts in York, Chester and Lancaster counties are being reviewed to see if the cases can be prosecuted, handled with plea negotiations, or dismissed.

Both Taylor and Schurig live in Rock Hill. Yet both were arrested Friday in Charlotte by State Law Enforcement Division agents at the hospital, forcing authorities in York County to pursue extradition.

This story was originally published March 11, 2015 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Police officer accused of child abuse extradited to York County."