Dad charged with 1st-degree assault in abuse of newborn son (Joplin, Missouri)

You really have to be a special kind of @$$hole to abuse a baby. Seems daddy DWIGHT W. PIERCE must be a really special @$$hole then, as he saw fit to severely abuse his newborn for the crime of crying. (Imagine that. A baby that cries. Who ever heard of such a thing...) We're talking about multiple fractures (including skull fractures) and intracranial bleeding. Once again, we have a mother who thought it was safe to let Daddy babysit for a while. Not blaming Mom per se. We're told these days that men and women are identical in every way, and the fact is, they're just not.

We need to face facts, people. There are an awful lot of virile young men who just can't do infant care. They just can't. These guys should be out driving trucks, cutting up firewood, digging ditches, whatever. Anything where they can direct their energy and aggression in a positive way. If you need a sitter, call Grandma, your sister, or the nice lady next door.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1126205251/Infant-abuse-case-awaiting-father-s-mental-health-exam

May 4, 2010

Infant-abuse case awaiting father’s mental-health exam
By Jeff Lehr
Globe Staff Writer

JOPLIN, Mo. — A Jasper County judge has ordered a mental-health examination for a Joplin father accused of severely abusing his newborn son when the baby would not stop crying.

Dwight W. Pierce, 24, is charged in Jasper County Circuit Court with first-degree assault on his infant son, Terry Pierce.

The 2-week-old baby was taken the night of Feb. 27 to the emergency room at Freeman Hospital West in Joplin by his mother. The boy had multiple bone fractures and intracranial bleeding, according to police and court records.

The hospital staff immediately suspected child abuse, and the Missouri Department of Social Services and Joplin police were notified. Injuries to the infant noted in a probable-cause affidavit were multiple skull fractures, bleeding on the brain, a broken right clavicle, a broken wrist, a broken ankle and six broken ribs.

“It’s a pretty sad case,” police Detective Sgt. Charla Geller told the Globe on Tuesday.

Geller said the baby was placed in the protective custody of the state and was transferred the same night by medical helicopter to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. She said there was concern for a couple of weeks that the baby might not survive.

The infant has been released from the hospital, according to police. He is no longer expected to suffer any permanent brain damage, and his overall prognosis is positive, although recovery from some of his injuries continues, Geller said.

The mother told a police officer at the hospital that she left the baby in the care of her boyfriend, Dwight Pierce. She said she took the child to the emergency room when she returned home and noticed that the sides of his head were swollen. Authorities said she told medical personnel that Pierce told her the baby had been struck accidentally in the mouth by a swing.

The father was at the Joplin hospital with the mother but left before police arrived. Geller said he was interviewed briefly later that night at his home on Byers Avenue.

During a second interview at the police station with Detective Larry Swinehart, the father allegedly admitted abusing the baby when he would not stop crying.

A probable-cause affidavit states that Pierce disclosed that he punched the infant in the stomach, leg, upper and lower back, and in the back of the head. He also admitted picking the baby up, twisting his head back and forth, and dropping him to the floor from a standing position, according to the affidavit.