Lakewood man pleads not guilty to severely beating daughter, 2

A 2-year-old Lakewood girl threw up her oatmeal, which prosecutors allege prompted her father to submerge her under water, severely beat her and dangle her from a third-story apartment balcony.

Seaton Moore Jr., 20, pleaded not guilty Thursday to first-degree child assault. Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Meagan Foley ordered him jailed in lieu of $500,000 and barred him from seeing the girl.

Moore was arrested Wednesday in the 4800 block of 122nd Street Southwest after officers responded to an unrelated call and said they spotted Moore hanging the toddler from the balcony.

Charging papers give this account:

Police found the girl in bed, “shaking profusely,” covered in bruises and with a swollen jaw.

Moore’s girlfriend told officers the girl was eating when she began throwing up and Moore became angry, so he took her to the bathroom and beat her.

Paramedics who evaluated the child at the apartment “noted she had some oatmeal that was in her mouth but was too frightened to let go of the oatmeal.”

She was taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center, where doctors found she was covered in bruises on her face, stomach, legs, arms, back and buttocks.

The bruises were in various stages of healing, indicating the abuse was ongoing.

The child also suffered hemorrhaging in her left eye and a cut to her lip.

Moore allegedly admitted to submerging his daughter in water, slamming her into two bathroom fixtures, beating her with his hands, whipping her with a belt and hanging her from the balcony “in an attempt to scare her,” records show.

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 7:11 AM with the headline "Lakewood man pleads not guilty to severely beating daughter, 2."