Appreciating That Which Surrounds Us
BY CHIP MINEMYER
The Tribune-Democrat
Published December 21, 2007
My heroes this Christmas are the members of the Somerset Borough police department.
They have arrested a man who they say was humiliating and abusing his young son, and police said they were shocked at the “amount of cruelty involved” in the abuse.
The 2-year-old boy was treated at Somerset Hospital and Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for a broken leg and fractured skull. When it was determined the injuries likely signaled extensive abuse, police began an investigation.
What they found, they say, is a pattern of emotional and psychological torment by a father on his young son that included:
• Wrapping a snake around the boy’s neck and forcing the child to endure the fear for five minutes, even as he cried and screamed.
• Placing beer in the child’s drinking cup.
• Shooting the little boy with an air gun – enough to cause welts and bruising.
• Striking the boy on the head, at least once with a metal toy gun.
• Using permanent markers to write profane and derogatory words on the boy’s face and body, and to draw sexually explicit pictures on the boy’s face.
Police say the man did those things and more “for his own amusement.”
There is some good news.
Police Chief Randy Cox said of the boy: “My understanding is that he’s pretty much thriving in foster care.”
Still, how a grown person could do such things to any child is beyond my comprehension.
But violence against children – especially one’s own children – is nothing new for our region nor for the Somerset police.
Earlier this year, a Somerset man pleaded guilty but mentally ill for abusing his infant daughter in 2006. The abuse included breaking one of her legs over his shoulder and stunning her with a cattle prod.
The latest Somerset incident comes on the heels of last month’s case in Johnstown, where a 15-month-old girl suffered a brain injury from falling down the stairs while, police said, her mother was out buying crack cocaine and her mother’s boyfriend was high on drugs. Both the mother and the boyfriend were arrested. The child had multiple bruises on her body, police said, and a human bite mark on her arm.
Criminal Investigator Ruth Beckner was lead officer on the two abuse cases in Somerset. Cox praised Beckner and other officers for maintaining their professionalism when dealing with a heart-wrenching situation.
“I honestly think that most cops learn to compartmentalize and handle things professionally,” Cox said.
“If anything, it makes them more appreciative of things outside of the workplace.”
The same can be said of journalists.
After publishing a story like this one, we go home and hug our own children a little tighter than usual.
And we pray that out there somewhere, a little boy is starting to find the happiness he deserves.
Chip Minemyer is the editor of The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5091.
Posted 12-24-07