Man arrested after water-boarding 5-year-old boy in Mt. Morris

[Siwsan]

MT. MORRIS (WJRT) - (05/15/15) - In Mt. Morris, a 5-year-old boy was water-boarded as punishment, and his mother's 30-year-old boyfriend is behind bars.

Police say he also used a knife to abuse the boy's older brother.

Mr. Morris Police Chief Keith Becker described in very disturbing details what these two young boys experienced.

They won't release the suspect's name at this time, but he is being arraigned and faces eight counts, some of those including: two counts of imprisonment, two counts of child abuse and two counts of child abuse in the presence of a minor.

Police say the 5 year old was at school on Wednesday morning when teachers noticed he was very quiet. They started talking to him, concerned, and found out about the terrible things that happened to him the night before.

"He ripped his backpack at school, and the suspect took it upon himself to use a waterboarding technique. Bounded his hands with a belt, put a garment over his head, laid him on his back and poured water all over his face and his throat and mouth," Becker said.

To make matters worse, three weeks before the 5 year old was abused, authorities say they also learned the suspect abused and terrified his 12-year-old brother.

"He got in trouble for going outside without permission. The suspect took it upon himself to take the 12-year-old victim into the bedroom, put a shirt over his face, tied his hands up with a shirt. Went and retrieved a knife. Took the knife. Put it at his throat and chest. And stated to the victim, 'I'm going to carve my initials into your chest,'" Becker said.

Authorities say the suspect has a long criminal record. The mother was also in the home at the time of the abuse, so the investigation is far from over.

http://www.abc12.com/home/headlines/Man-arrested-after-water-boarding-5-year-old-boy-in-Mt-Morris--303959751.html

[MrMickeysMom]

1. Wow… what a man your boyfriend is, mommy...

How hopeless do you have to be to allow this shit into your and your children's life? How little is life worth?

[Siwsan]

2. We've had some cringe worthy news out of Flint, lately. This one takes the cake

I'm glad they were able to get that young boy to open up. Otherwise this situation could have turned out even more tragic.

[MrMickeysMom]

3. Me,too. That couldn't have been anything but scary...

But, when the level of abuse is this much, someone must have done their job in getting this to come forward. For that, the justice system must have worked. But, for us as a society...

The bigger problem is what we are turning into. I wasn't sure where in MI this was, but remembering how Flint was featured as a crumbling work force MM's first film, there must be even worse poverty and fewer resources for people to handle poverty. Can the cumulative effect be producing more and more de-humanizing experiences due to worse and worse abuse of each generation?

[Siwsan]

6. Mt Morris is north of Flint

Flint has changed, a bit, since 'Roger and Me'. The University of Michigan and Michigan State University now have campus sites in the downtown area. The presence of so many students has helped invigorate Flint. Much of the main downtown area has been transformed from total retail to smaller specialty stores and many really nice and unique restaurants. Some of the stores were reincarnated as loft apartment buildings. The Flint Farmer's Market is now downtown. There are festivals of all sorts running throughout the good weather season, several of which get national and international attention. Every month, during the Sprint/Summer season there is a Flint Art Walk, the second Friday of the month.

That being said, the north and east sides are still very high crime areas and in serious decay.

[shenmue]

4. What a piece of garbage

[gratuitous]

5. Is waterboarding torture now?

And the knife-threatening of the 12-year-old doesn't sound any worse than what Republican favorite Allen West did while wearing the uniform of our country. I can't imagine why anyone would be up in arms about this, based on what the Republicans have been doing and saying over the last decade or more.

I wonder if West will testify as a character witness for the suspect? Or John Yoo, telling the court why the 5-year-old is just fine, because he didn't suffer pain equal to major organ failure? How about Donald Rumsfeld to explain that mistakes might have been made, for Pete's sake. Perhaps the Mt. Morris police would be better served by looking forward to the future, instead of backwards to the past?

Nope, that all still sounds like so much bullshit.

[Katashi_itto]

7. It's not torture. Why are they getting so upset?

Our great leaders told us so.