Prosecutors have dropped a felony child abuse charge against a Palm Coast doctor accused earlier this year of hitting her adopted son multiple times after an argument over his cleaning his room, according to court records.
Dr. Christine Garrett, 55, was charged with child abuse without great bodily harm following her arrest on Feb. 2 in Palm Coast.
Assistant State Attorney Tara Libby dismissed the child abuse charge on July 23, according to court records.
Libby had formally charged Garrett with child abuse, a third-degree felony, on February 20, according to court documents.
Attorney: Allegations untrue
Garrett’s defense attorney, Dillon M. Andreassi, wrote in an email to The News-Journal that the charge was dismissed “after the child advised their counselor along with multiple witnesses that the allegations were untrue.”
Andreassi wrote that Garrett also passed a polygraph test concerning the incident.
He added that the “allegations against Dr. Garrett were false.”
“It is with great pleasure that Dr. Garrett can put this matter behind her and continue to providing critical care to thousands of individuals in the Flagler community,” Andreassi wrote.
Garrett runs a medical practice in Palm Coast with her husband who is also a doctor. She is board certified in internal medicine and other aspects of health care, according to her practice’s website.
She is back at her office, her attorney wrote in response to The News-Journal.
“Absolutely, Dr. Garrett continues to provide critical medical care and is committed to helping the Flagler County community as she has for over a decade,” Andreassi wrote.
Request to clean room leads to argument
Garrett said that she had asked her son to clean up some wrappers on the floor in the room by his computer, leading to the pair getting into an argument.
According to an affidavit filed at the time of her arrest, Garrett said she intentionally struck her son on the head with a plastic trash can. She said that nothing else had happened.
The son said he was playing video games when his mother asked him to clean the room. He said she then struck him with the trash can and claimed she then punched him multiple times on his head and chest before he got away and called 911, according to the charging affidavit.
A deputy noted that Garrett’s son had slight swelling on the right side of his face and multiple bruises on his legs and chest, according to the affidavit.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Prosecutors: Charges dropped against Palm Coast doctor in felony child abuse case
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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