A Missouri man reportedly suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was arrested on Friday after he repeatedly bashed his wife’s 12-year-old daughter in the head, knocking her unconscious, for not cleaning her room.
Dustin Woodrow Pierce, 39, allegedly told the little girl she was “fine” and “weak” after battering her, Lincoln News Now reported.
A deputy who responded to the 911 call wrote in the police report that he saw no visible injuries on the girl but that she was diagnosed with a concussion at the hospital.
“We have to draw the distinction between what citizens would call reasonable corporate punishment and strikes to the head,” Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Wood said. “I can’t overstate … striking a child in the head will never be acceptable corporate punishment.”
Wood said the girl’s injuries were more severe than the deputy assumed and she is now working with a physical therapist to regain motor function and is being monitored for brain bleeds.
“Once they got her to medical providers, they were able to determine there was substantial injuries to her brain,” Wood said. “The injuries weren’t on the outside. They were internal.”
A probable cause statement says that Pierce told the girl to go upstairs and clean her room, but she refused. He then told the girl’s mother that “if you’re not gonna handle this, I will,” and followed the girl upstairs, where the mother saw him hit the girl three times.
Pierce is a military veteran who is scheduled to enter an in-patient PTSD clinic in Kansas on December 30, prosecutors wrote in their bond request form. They also said that Pierce “has specialized military training and is a danger to himself and others.”
Pierce has been charged with abuse and is being held on a $500,000 bond.
