Lakewood man charged with stomping his 2-year-old son. Signs of abuse found on other boy

A Lakewood man is accused of stomping his 2-year-old son so violently the child was unable to walk due to four fractures in his hips.

The 25-year-old father pleaded not guilty Wednesday to second-degree child assault and was ordered held on $300,000 bail.

Pierce County prosecutors said they likely would elevate the charge to first-degree child assault.

The man is prohibited from going near his girlfriend or her three children.

Charging papers give this account:

The boy’s mother left him with the father Sunday while she went to work.

Because the father struggles with alcohol, she asked him to watch the children at her mother’s Tacoma apartment.

The grandmother said she put the 2-year-old to bed around 10 p.m. She was awakened about 1:30 a.m. to the boy crying and again when her daughter got home.

The boy’s mother told police she arrived home from work and found her boyfriend sleeping in bed. When she noticed their 2-year-old acting oddly, she inspected him and found dried blood on his mouth and severe bruising all over his body.

She kicked her boyfriend out of the apartment and called 911.

The boy was taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, where doctors found he suffered four fractures to his hips and pelvic area, serious bruising on his face and body and an injury “consistent with a shoe imprint.”

Doctors said the 2-year-old was likely stomped and either punched or kicked in the stomach.

A 4-year-old boy and an infant who lived in the home also were checked for injuries. The baby appeared fine, but the older boy had severe bruising on his body.

Police found and arrested the father, who “told police he had done nothing wrong and had been kicked out of the house for no reason,” records show.

The tread on his shoes matched the injury on his son and blood was allegedly found on the bottom of his shoes.

His girlfriend told police he’d abused her in the past, but she’d never seen him hurt the children.

This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 11:00 AM.