Dad accused of beating son

Police say he dragged naked teen down street

Friday, July 21, 2006

A Jackson man whipped his naked 14-year-old son with a leather belt while he led him by the wrist up and down a Jackson street, police and prosecutors say.

Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant Thursday for the 34-year-old father after the incident Wednesday night. He faces one charge of second-degree child abuse and one charge of felonious assault.

"This certainly is not a healthy environment to raise a child," said Jackson police Deputy Chief Matt Heins. "It is beyond all reasonable comprehension of the appropriate level of discipline."

The Citizen Patriot generally does not identify victims of child abuse; the father's name is not being used, to protect the son's identity.

The father apparently became enraged when he thought his son was allowing relatives into their house in the 400 block of High Street to have sex, a police report said.

The father marched down the block to get his son, who was at a friend's house. The father yelled at him, but the son said he didn't know what he was talking about, the report said.

When they returned to the house, the father took off his 2-inch thick leather belt and started striking the teen, the report said. The father then ordered his son to strip off all his clothes or face further beatings, police said.

The father then led the teen by the wrist up High Street about 9:30 p.m., when it was still light out. The son told police he was embarrassed. Numerous cars drove by honking and neighbors mocked him as friends looked on, the son told police.

The son complied because he didn't want to be hit with the belt anymore, he told police.

Once they returned to the house, the son was forced to sit on the porch for 20 minutes, still naked. He eventually grabbed his clothes, dressed and made it to his mother's house on Van Buren Street. She called police.

A police officer observed five large welts on the teen's back and arm.

The mother also told police that the father called her and said he was going to "beat the hell" out of the child. Police notified Children's Protective Services.

The father is expected to be arraigned today in District Court.

"The allegations in this case are shocking and will be taken very seriously by this office," Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer said.

After reading the article, Dad Accused of Beating Son on July 21, I was embarrassed to be a resident of this community.

Why? Because “numerous cars drove by honking and neighbors mocked him as friends looked on”.

You people should be ashamed of yourselves. I wonder how you can look yourselves in the mirror and not wonder what is wrong with you.

We have a responsibility as members of civilized society to protect others who are not in a position to take care of themselves. And if ever an opportunity presented itself to step up in the face of evil and say NO, not in my neighborhood, not in my presence, not in front of my children, this was it. And everyone who was there and did absolutely nothing said loud and clearly that it’s ok. Ok to abuse children in the 400 block of High St., ok to commit crimes in the 400 block of High St, ok to flaunt your disregard to human decency in the 400 block of High St, go ahead we won’t stop you. We don’t care enough to stop it. We’ll just sit by and watch and laugh.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. Albert Einstein

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing—Edmund Burke