Utah man charged with hitting son with stick for eating too slow

SANDY — A 41-year-old Sandy man is facing a criminal charge accusing him of using a stick to punish his young son for not eating fast enough.

The man was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony.

A 10-year-old boy told investigators that, in September, he was eating dinner when his father “told him he ‘had three minutes to finish eating.’ (The boy) said (his father) told him that if he didn’t finish in that time, he would ‘spank (him),'” according to charging documents.

The boy didn’t finish in three minutes and was spanked. A timer was then set for two more minutes, and the boy was told to keep eating, the charges state. When he didn’t finish again, he was spanked a second time.

“(The father) then set the timer for one minute and told (his son) that if he didn’t finish, he would ‘grab a stick.’ (The boy) described that he was ‘eating as fast as he could but couldn’t finish.’ (The father) then spanked him twice with a stick, which (the boy) described as ‘long and thin’ and said … that it hurt more than the ‘first two times,'” according to the charges.

The timer was then set for an additional minute, and the boy was spanked two more times with the stick after still not finishing his meal, the charges state. The boy told investigators that “his bum had ‘purple marks and bruises,'” charging documents allege.

The boy’s mother “observed redness, bruising, and welts” on the boy’s buttocks. She confronted her ex-husband about the incident, and he allegedly acknowledged that he hit his son “with a switch … an object, he deserved to get his (butt) whipped,” according to charging documents. When questioned by police, however, the father denied using a stick, as stated in the charges, but admitted to spanking his son.