RICHMOND, IN — A Richmond man has been accused of battering his 6-year-old son.
Kristopher L. Smith, 31, is charged in Wayne Superior Court 2 with domestic battery resulting in injury to a person less than 14 years of age, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison, and resisting law enforcement, a misdemeanor.
Richmond police said surveillance video showed the child abuse, reported to have taken place in an alley near Southwest Fourth Street on Friday, Feb. 27.
According to an officer who viewed the video, Smith is shown hitting the child “in the area of (the boy’s) head with so much momentum that he started on the right side of the screen and ended up on the left side of the screen.”
Investigators later went to the child’s elementary school and determined he had “a mark under his left eye.”
Smith, later interviewed at Richmond’s Menards store, said his son had thrown a fit, kicking and screaming before headbutting his father.
After an officer revealed a video showed Smith striking the child, the Richmond man said he hit the boy “trying to get him to calm down.”
Police said Smith struggled with officers after they told him he was being taken into custody.
A trial date has not yet been set in the Superior Court 2 case. Court records reflect no prior charges against Smith.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Richmond father charged with battering boy
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Richmond Palladium-Item / Muncie Star Press
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