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.
Posted on 07/09/2002 7:10:44 AM PDT by Illbay
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.
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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.
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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.
The family, who have attended the church for four years, are the source of the evidence being used by the police.
Tell it the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
There. That should make it easier for you.
Yeah, I would think that the boy's family would want to find the thugs who beat their son. A pity that the rest of the congregation apparently won't help the police track them down though.
There are over a billion followers of Islam on the planet. They're not all oil sheiks.
Old injuries (the scabs anyway)? And the family let the kid continue to go to this "church" for FOUR YEARS? Incredible.
Yeah, find the thugs who did this and throw away the key. THEN lock up the parents for apparently failing to protect their child from these muggers in vestments.
I never said they were, I was simply refuting your claim that anti-Western fellings in Muslims was caused by poverty alone.
Oh come on, you're out of your head with indignation. Here's what we actually know:
Arrest warrants were issued yesterday. They have an attorney. The attorney talked to the reporter. The reporter could not locate the brothers for comment.
In other words, the whole matter is proceeding like 99% of all criminal investigations. The attorney will no doubt protect his clients, prevent them from talking to the press, and arrange an orderly arraignement and bail hearing.
Truth is, you have no more idea what the rest of the congregation thinks than I do.
I take it you can site many more examples. Please do so, or shut up.
A. Fundamentalist Baptists don't generally wear vestments.
B. So you're advocating jail terms for the parents now? And, I assume, for all those wicked Catholic parents who LET their children be abused by priests.
Get a rationality pill. You're about as dangerous as the perps.
Since I'm entertaining myself for a few moments by trying to inject into your brain the ability to distinguish between fact and speculation -- no, no, say nothing of it, it's altruism -- let's switch to the Socratic method:
How old are the "injuries"?
How old are the "scabs"?
How do you know?
My brother's wife--my Sister-in-Law--came from a family who were members of one of these "nondenominational" (read "nonaccountable") churches.
Her little brother who was maybe eight or nine at the time was severely beaten by his father.
Okay, so it was domestic child abuse, right? Wrong.
The PASTOR of their church came to the house and DEMANDED the kid be beaten (I don't even remember why, it's been about eight years), and stood there in the room while the father administered the punishment. The father would pause every now and then and look up at the minister to see if the kid had been "disciplined" enough.
The kid ended up in the hospital, though not in intensive care.
The father was arrested. The parents eventually divorced.
The pastor was untouched by any of it, and went on to lead his "flock" into further mischief, I'm sure.
Also, there are the cases up in New England, several children dying of malnourishment or physical abuse in these little ultra-savage...errrrr...evangelical communes they have up their where all the women have to wear long dresses and can't look their husbands in the face without permission, etc.
And there's also the saga of Brian and Ruth Christine.
Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'll bet some others like Kevin Curry can come up with more.
Amen, brother, amen.
evangelical communes they have up their where all the women have to wear long dresses and can't look their husbands in the face without permission, etc.
Was your sister in an "evangelical commune"?
I've spent some time in evangelical communes. Which ones are the ones where the women can't look their husbands in the face without permission?
There are a GREAT MANY of these, and I gave some well-known examples. There are others I know of that won't appear in any newspaper column-space, but they are exactly like this.
Having lived in the "Bible Belt" all my forty-four years, I feel somewhat qualified to comment.
FWIW, Hinduism like most of the world's religions has its own intensely violent history to contend with.
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