[Austin, TX] Church leaders accused in beating -- Boy in intensive care with kidney failure

The Houston Chronicle ^ | July 9, 2002 | Armando Villafranca

[Illbay]

Church leaders accused in beating

Boy in intensive care with kidney failure

By ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA

Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN -- An 11-year-old boy who read the wrong Bible verse at church was severely beaten with a tree branch by a Baptist pastor and the pastor's brother, the boy's family said.

	Photo supplied by family attorney Bobby R. Taylor An 11-year-old boy suffered kidney failure after being beaten on the back and buttocks with a tree branch, a police affidavit says.

The boy suffered kidney failure as a result of the beating and spent the Fourth of July weekend in the intensive care unit of Brackenridge Hospital sedated with morphine, according to a police affidavit.

Austin police issued arrest warrants Monday for Joshua W. Thompson, 22, of Austin, and his twin brother, Caleb D. Thompson. They are wanted on charges of first-degree felony injury to a child.

Joshua Thompson is pastor of the Spanish-language congregation at the Capital City Baptist Church. Caleb Thompson is an assistant to the pastors. They are accused of using an inch-thick tree branch to discipline the boy.

"(The boy) was accused of not taking this very seriously," said Bobby Taylor, an attorney for the family.

According to Taylor and family members, the beating occurred Wednesday while the boy and other children practiced for a Bible competition.

"He was trying to find the verse and he was on the wrong verse, and they thought he was goofing around," the boy's mother said.

She said church assistants summoned Joshua Thompson, who took the boy to Caleb Thompson's house.

Taylor said the boy was placed facedown on a bed and beaten with the tree branch on his back and buttocks. When the boy tried to break free, Caleb Thompson held him down so the beating could continue, Taylor said.

Taylor said the beating lasted 90 minutes, during which the boy was allowed to use the bathroom one time. The boy told his family the Thompsons turned up a radio to drown out his screams.

The family said the Thompsons brought the boy home and suggested he wear long sleeves for a while. The family said one of the brothers told the boy's stepfather, "It's your turn now" and that they suggested he "finish the job."

According to the police affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrants, the stepfather told investigators the Thompsons said they tried to break the child and make him repent from wrongdoing.

"Their idea of discipline was to take him out of school and beat him until he was black and blue," said the boy's uncle, Felipe Garcia.

A photograph provided by Taylor showed deep purple bruises and scabs on the boy's back and buttocks. The police affidavit noted the boy also was bruised on his arms, legs and head.

Attempts to reach the Thompsons on Monday were unsuccessful. Jerald Finney, a lawyer for Joshua Thompson, told the Austin American-Statesman that "facts have been distorted."

"These are two very responsible young men," Finney said. "Anybody can make allegations. That's what the criminal justice system is for -- to sort out truth from fiction."

The boy's mother said she and her family had attended the independent Baptist church for four years and that the sermons never endorsed severe discipline.

"It was a surprise to me; it was shocking," she said. "I never heard nothing like this. I never heard the pastor preach like this. I have no idea why they beat him so badly."

The family intends to file a civil lawsuit against the church.

[Catspaw]

That's what my sis the RN said. But it's going to take a while for the kid to recover.

[RGSpincich]

it's going to take a while for the kid to recover.

Lousy deal. Think they'll be able to put his left hand on a Bible to take the oath before he testifies?

Guess that's rhetorical, I haven't seen a Bible in court since Perry Mason was in black & white.

[Catspaw]

Nope, no more Bibles. Heck, half of them can't tell their right from their left.

All right, all right, you got me. I can't either. I just know my right is the one without the wedding ring. Sometimes I have to peek.

[RGSpincich]

Reminds me of the time I was teaching my wife to drive. Told her to move over a little to the left, left, LEFT!

As she got closer and closer to the parked cars on the Right.

Did you know Sears has a driving school? Lifesaver.

[Catspaw]

Out of desparation--and my failure to follow her directions to her girlfriend's houses--my daughter crept into my room one night & put a big L on my left hand & a big R on my right hand in permanent black magic marker. It didn't work. She finally resorted to saying, "take an UP at the next corner & a DOWN at the following corner," because that was the direction of the turn indicator. Now THAT worked.

She's a problem-solver, that kid of mine.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Does the admission on the part of their father that they regularly prescribe for their congregants, in excruciating detail, various kinds of beatings for their children not repugnant to you?

If the "beatings" are anything with severity remotely approaching what happened, it is bizarre as hell (literally). How, in fundie-heaven Texas, could a church calling itself Baptist be what is basically an S&M club, and not be publicly "outed" by every other halfway decent church in the vicinity? Why isn't Child and Family Services (or whatever they call it in Texas) swarming this outfit?

[Illbay]

Churches of this kind--independent congregations--don't really mingle with others.

[RGSpincich]

Link

Williams was involved in many church activities growing up. In fact, she was even part of "Olympic Summer." That program's beliefs fell under a national spotlight last week when an 11-year-old boy's parents claimed Joshua and Caleb Thompson beat their son with a tree branch for cheating on a Bible exam.

Looks like we have gone from a child's indifference to Bible study to a kid cheating on a Bible exam. Capital punishment for cheating?

[Catspaw]

It looks like we'll need more of the story as the case progresses, but whether he was indifferent or was cheating, it doesn't justify the act. Right now, all I know is that these two are accused of beating a kid so badly that he went into kidney failure.

[Illbay]

I can't think of any situation short of self-defense where you would have to BEAT a child--and even then, I think you can restrain him without much injury.

I know it sounds terrible to think the reason was because he was "cheating" or whatever it was, but really there is no reason I can think of that would justify this.