Child abuse: ‘A crying baby makes them snap’
April 30th, 2010 Posted in OpinionBy Kayla Woodring
LOGAN— The Logan City Police Department has seen an unusual occurrence of abnormally heinous child abuse crimes in recent months, Jeff Curtis, Assistant Chief of police said.
It is not unusual for the police to respond to child abuse, but in recent months two obscenely violent crimes against children have occurred, Curtis said.
The first occurred in mid-January and involved suspected abuse of a 25-day-old infant by his father, Jonathan Monsen, according to a press release from the police department. The infant sustained several head, leg and rib injuries, including fractures.
“The hardest part about cases like these is that these are children so young that they can’t defend themselves or tell anyone about what has happened to them,” Curtis said.
The other case involved suspected abuse of a 19-month-old girl taken to the hospital by her mother, who had been told by her fiancé, James Ray, 31, that the child had fallen from her crib. Emergency room doctors felt the injuries were too severe to have been caused by a fall and contacted the police department about potential child abuse..
“Because this child was so young, it takes a special set of investigative techniques to produce probable cause for arrest,” Curtis said. “Our victim in this case can’t tell us about what has happened.”
Curtis said he suspects the weakened economy may have something to do with the increase in violent crimes against small children. He said the additional stress people may be feeling financially wears on their patience and they don’t react well when they can’t figure out why children are crying.
“Unfortunately some of these people just get to be at their wit’s end and the sound of a crying baby makes them snap,” Curtis said. “It’s very sad. It’s just the sort of thing that shocks the conscience.”
Both Ray and Monsen were taken into custody and booked on suspicion of second-degree felony child abuse.
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