"Frustrated" dad tortures 1-year-old son; boy now brain dead (Kansas City, Missouri)

Dad REY A. CRUZ SR. has been charged with assault and child endangerment for torturing his son over several days. We're told that the poor daddy was "frustrated." Read the account below, and you'll see that "frustration" had nothing to do with it. This daddy is one sicko sadist without compassion or empathy. The boy was declared brain dead this morning.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/07/1931290/tortured-kc-boy-1-is-brain-dead.html

Posted on Fri, May. 07, 2010 12:30 PM

Tortured KC boy, 1, is brain dead; father charged
By CHRISTINE VENDEL
The Kansas City Star

Jackson County prosecutors have accused a man of torturing his 1-year-old son over several days this week out of frustration. The boy was declared brain-dead this morning, authorities said.

Prosecutors on Thursday charged Rey A. Cruz Sr., 19, with assault and child endangerment. The charges could be upgraded, police said. Kansas City police already have counted the boy as the 38th homicide of the year.

Investigators said the boy lived with his father and two other relatives. The boy’s mother is in prison, police said, and the father had been moving around, living with various friends and relatives.

Police were called to the boy’s home in the 1300 block of Monroe Avenue about 2:35 a.m. Thursday, where they found the boy struggling to breathe. He had bruises “all over his body,” according to court records. An ambulance took him to a hospital, where doctors found brain swelling to the point it was pushing down the brain stem. The boy also had 10 fresh rib fractures, bruises to his genitals and hemorrhaging to his eyes.

Cruz rode to the hospital with his son and fell asleep in a room. Detectives woke him and took him to police headquarters for questioning. He initially denied knowing how his son was hurt, but later admitted shaking the boy at least five times, court records say.

According to the court records:

The abuse began Monday with shaking. Cruz said he pushed the boy down two times on Tuesday when he was “trying to help (the boy) walk.” He shook the boy again on Tuesday night because the boy was crying.

On Wednesday, Cruz said he slapped the back of the boy’s head. In the afternoon, when the boy cried, Cruz hit him in the face. When the boy cried again that night, Cruz said he shook him for about a minute and hit him twice in the face. When the boy awoke and cried at 10 p.m., Cruz squeezed his abdomen and threw him to the floor, knocking him out.

Cruz left the boy on the floor then later shook him several more times and punched him “hard” in the abdomen three or four times. Cruz said he punched him in the groin to try to “wake him up.” The boy remained unconscious.

About 2 a.m. Thursday, Cruz called 911 when he noticed the boy’s eyes were not moving together and the boy was struggling to breathe.

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