Posted on 09/04/2009 10:02:22 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
A 31-year-old San Antonio police officer was indicted Wednesday on a child assault charge, the result of an investigation that lasted more than a year after he allegedly whipped his 9-year-old son.
Patrolman Juan M. Delgado, a seven-year veteran of the Police Department, was initially being investigated for felony injury to a child, but grand jurors opted to indict him on a Class A misdemeanor assault charge, according to prosecutors. If convicted, Delgado faces up to a year in jail.
Delgado agreed to surrender today during an arraignment set for this morning, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, the officer remains on administrative duty, according to police spokeswoman Sandy Gutierrez.
Authorities began investigating Delgado in May 2008 after a disciplinary session with his son, who's now 10, went too far, said Adriana Biggs, division chief of the Bexar County District Attorney's white collar crimes unit.
Delgado is accused of using excessive force in whipping his son, leaving him with bruise marks on his lower back, buttocks and legs, Biggs said. The beating is alleged to have taken place at his Calle Remolino apartment on the West Side.
Biggs said photos were taken that “showed what we believe to be injuries to the child by way of bruising.”
The San Antonio Police Department handed the case to the District Attorney's office last summer, and since then, the office has conducted its own investigation, Biggs said.
Neither Delgado nor his attorney addressed the grand jury, but prosecutors agreed to present to the group a letter from Child Protective Services stating that the agency's investigation had been closed. Defense attorney Lyndee Bordini could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt, but indicates a grand jury believes there's enough evidence to warrant a trial.
Delgado is the second officer to be in legal trouble in as many weeks in San Antonio.
Officer Jason Rozacky was placed on paid leave last week after he was charged with breaking into his ex-girlfriend's home.
or a beating.
yeah. Leaving a mess of bruises is way beyond spanking.
Yes, there is. But there are other factors. Some people bruise easily. If I’ve taken an aspirin, I can bruise to a light touch. We’re walking a fine line here.
There are a multitude of effective discipline techniques that don’t involve hitting kids.
I don’t know. I found the belt quite convincing as a kid. My parents didn’t use the belt, but granny did. Only got it twice. I shaped up after that—until I was out of granny’s jurisdiction. Teachers has paddles. That was the only year I ever got straight A’s, was when I went to school in Alabama and discovered what it’s like when adults control the childern, and not the other way around.
I was bruised a fair bit as a kid - a bruise in and of itself is not proof of abuse IMO.
Yes, we see the fruit of that all around us.
“My parents didn’t use the belt, but granny did.”
You’re lucky! My Mom used a riding crop. Only had to use it once! Then,,, just the threat of it was more than enough. Mr. Campbell, my 9th grade math teacher had the frat paddle, with holes in it! Got that once too! Yeow!
LoL. That’s the thing. It only takes a few applications to successfully modify behavior :-) When I was in Alabama public school, there was a hierarchy of paddles. Teachers had taped up ping pong paddles. The gym coaches had cricket bats. And the VP had a big wooden racket with holes in it, a squash racket or something. Can still remember sitting in class, hearing the paddle whack whack out in the hall. It was like the movie scenes when the electric chair makes the prison lights flicker. All the inmates feel it. All a teacher had to do when a class got rowdy was take the paddle out of the drawer and put it on the desk and we all turned into little angels. It’s the credible threat of force that does it. It makes the actual application mostly unnecessary.
Based on these charges my father would have gotten life.
Don’t get the idea that I’m complaining but things have gotten to the point that its easy to see why the young folks these days seem to be so disrespectful.
And you should have seen what the football coach was like when he took his old frat paddle to ya.
As a recipient of child abuse including burns, metal rods, chipped teeth and bones and blood running down my back, these stories really piss me off. I understand that there does need to be a line ... a clear and measurable line, but I do not believe a bruise or two or even a welt qualifies as abuse punishable by prison.
There is a huge difference between a spanking and a punishment that leaves a scar or causes internal injury to a child. Maybe this did get out of hand .. ok, send the parent to anger management class. But I can not see any jail time for bruises.
Beatings are given by parents who exercise no self-control in any area of their lives and lash out in a mindless rage at their children because they have no idea how to handle anything. In many cases, beatings result from a parent allowing bad behavior to go unchecked to the point where screaming and beating is the only way they have to try to bring the situation under control.
On the other hand, parents who spank their children realize that children need to learn at an early age from people who love them that bad behavior brings bad consequences. Spanking at a certain age is a very effective method of disciplining a child and, yes, protecting him. A three or four year old child, for example, has to associate running out into the street with a spanking because the spanking will save the life of one who is too young to be reasoned with and cannot possibly understand the ramifications of getting hit by a car.
A nine-year old, however, is probably too old for spanking. At that age, loss of something the child likes to do, like time on the computer, would most likely be more effective.
Who would you rather run into in an alley at two in the morning? A group of 16 year olds who had been taught right from wrong and had been disciplined by their parents, even if that occasionally included spanking, or a group of 16 year olds who had been given the message over the course of their lives that any behavior is acceptable and there is never a painful consequence for animal-like conduct?
The disciplining of our society's children assures that they will grow up into responsible adults who, when they assume the reigns of control over society, won't screw it up. Discipline is a fundamental part of the maintenance and continuance of our siciety. If we as a culture lack the spine to maintain norms and standards (and pass these norms along to the next generation), we will inevitably descend into a Lord of the Flies-type scenario, and our society, culture, and nation are doomed.
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