Dad accused of child abuse after 2 toddlers and 4-year-old found with broken bones
A Pierce County man is accused of repeatedly beating his three young children.
Police got involved Feb. 17 when his 4-year-old son was brought to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital due to stomach pain.
Doctors discovered bruises on his face and body, a rib fracture and lacerations to the boy’s liver and pancreas.
When officers asked the boy’s mother what happened, she said the children had been playing a zombie game which is “physically rough,” court documents say.
The boy was placed in protective custody.
When he was interviewed, he allegedly said his dad slapped him and he’d also been hit by his brother, mother and grandmother.
Doctors said the 4-year-old’s “injuries were very serious and even life-threatening,” according to charging papers. “They said if he had not been brought in on Sunday night he may not have lived through the night.”
The couple’s other children, ages 1 and 2, also were placed in protective custody.
Examinations showed rib fractures in both kids, as well as evidence of other injuries in various states of healing.
Although both parents initially denied knowing how their children could have been injured, the father eventually “admitted to slapping, punching and pinching his kids on the back, side and face,” records say.
The 31-year-old man was arrested and has been charged with one count of first-degree child assault and two counts of second-degree child assault.
He pleaded not guilty and is being held on $500,000 bail.
This story was originally published February 25, 2019 at 9:50 AM.
