Posted on 03/22/2011 9:07:56 AM PDT by DCBryan1
FORT SMITH, Ark. - Fort Smith investigators say a dozen dogs inside a north side home were well fed, but a baby they rescued was little more than skin and bones. Another infant showed signs of abuse.
We want to warn you that some of the photos with this story are very graphic and not appropriate for children.
Officers at the Fort Smith Police Department have seen many things, but this is one of the worst cases. Most of them have young children themselves, and this case challenged them to set their personal feelings aside and do their jobs as professionals.
“These children can't fend for themselves,” Captain Jarrard Copeland told 5NEWS.
Officers discovered two babies they say were severely neglected. One of them was grossly malnourished.
“We executed a search warrant of their home today and found 10 cans of baby formula,” Copeland said.
Twenty-year-old Angel Richard, 33-year-old Ricky Bruner, Sr. And his 21-year-old girlfriend, Melissa Workman remain in jail. It happened at a home on North 5th Street in Fort Smith.
A neighbor said he had no idea the people next door were allegedly neglecting their infant sons.
“They were some pretty friendly people they would ask me for rides to the grocery store every now and then,” Ray Flores explained.
Two month old Ricky Bruner, Jr. was extremely malnourished; his ribs were visible through his little body. His parents, Bruner and Workman are charged with endangering the welfare of a minor in the 1st degree and battery in the 1st degree. Meanwhile, two-and-a-half month old Eli Richard's brain was hemorrhaging and he's suffering from a broken arm. He also has multiple bone fractures throughout his body that are in various stages of healing. His mother Angel Richard is charged with endangering the welfare of a minor in the 1st degree and battery in the 1st degree.
The babies were taken to a local hospital to be stabilized before being sent to children's hospital.
Police became involved when an anonymous call led them to one of the moms pushing her baby in a stroller down the street. They later went to the home and found the other baby covered by a blanket and sitting in front of a heater. Ray Flores says sometimes they would come over to visit.
“They would always bring him covered so we would only see his face, and he looked ok I guess,” Flores told 5NEWS.
Officers found dog feces and urine throughout the home.
“There were also between 10 and 15 dogs inside the home who were all fat and well fed,” Copeland said shaking his head.
The captain says he has a dog and he would never let his own pet stay in that house--much less a newborn baby. There was evidence of drug use in the house according to investigators. Police say the suspects have been cooperative.
All three are currently being held in the Sebastian County Detention Center without bond.
Prayers for God’s blessings on all.
PLEASE click on the link and watch the Channel 5 news video. My wife just left the room in tears...
I’m about 70 miles north of Fort Smith. I used to know some people in that neighborhood-it’s gone to Hell in the last several years...the Amish, for one thing, doncha know...
Baby has been heavier..and has lost weight more recently.
Prayers for suffering innocents.
It’s like some humans aren’t even human anymore. They’re something else — some other species.
I'd add "baby mamas" to the list if I didn't think it's a very steep and slippery slope.
With these folks I think a long stretch in the pokey combined with losing their parental rights might do for starters.
And who gets to decide that? You? Government?
Who become gods?
fry’em
Exactly. They probably had “free” deliveries for these babies. Probably get WIC and welfare.
I pray they are never allowed to parent again. That any children they bare will be taken from them immediately at birth. Even if they “reform”.
That is true. Furthermore, as I always say, the production of a baby involves the lowest class of unskilled labor.
Amen.
because they enjoy torturing innocent babies. There is nothing unusual about this case. There are millions of worthless vermin just like these spread all across the land.
I guarantee that you cannot walk down a busy street without walking into at least one of these fiends.
This just breaks my heart...
Meanwhile, two-and-a-half month old Eli Richard's brain was hemorrhaging and he's suffering from a broken arm. He also has multiple bone fractures throughout his body that are in various stages of healing.
My God...
Prayers up for these two defenseless babies and may God have mercy on the adults, because right now, I can't find it in me to do so.
Court-ordered frying, I presume?
I want them to scream "I'M SORRY!" and mean it.
I want to make sure they never have another innocent baby to beat and starve.
But hey, dropping them into a pot of boiling Crisco will work too.
No. That order, though necessary, is WAY above the Court's pay grade, and it is beyond human capability to build a fryer capable of both imposing the frying, and simultaneously perpetuating the life of the fry-ee such that the demands of justice can be satisfied.
I want them to scream "I'M SORRY!" and mean it.
I want to make sure they never have another innocent baby to beat and starve.
Agreed, but no human force is 100% capable of inducing the change of heart required to support seeing your first wish come true.
With regard to your second wish — while I am in emphatic agreement with you, and, while I could support public floggings in cases like this — granting human government the power to be "the decider" over something like sterilization has, in the past, proven to be a gilt-edged invitation for wanna-be social engineers to step in and turn that power in directions never intended by the legislative body that granted it. We simply CANNOT go there. Humans are too readily corruptible; demonstrably more so when given the reins of government.
I pray with you for these precious ones.
Dear Lord Jesus, You asked the little children to be brought to You that You could bless them. I pray for these children, in their hour of need, to bless them and bring along loving parents for them, that they would know a loving, caring home. Let justice be done to those responsible for this evil. In Your Holy Name, Amen.
I thought abortion was supposed to mean that all children born were wanted.
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