Texas father ties 6-year-old son with asthma to garage door, beats him with hammer for 'moving around a lot'
A Texas man has been arrested and charged after his son was found to have been tied to a garage door with a leash and complained about being beaten with a hammer and bottles.
Ronnie Shane Winans, 25, of San Angelo, was arrested after a deputy from the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office responded to a residence in the 700 block of W. 19th Street on August 8 to investigate a child abuse complaint, according to the San Angelo Standard-Times.
On arrival, a woman at the address told the deputy that she had discovered her six-year-old son had bruises on both his legs but that he wouldn't tell her who had inflicted the injuries on him.
In an affidavit, the deputy described the injuries. He said one of the bruises was red and yellowish and appeared to be a straight line running at an angle from the youth's hip to the inner thigh, and that the second was dark red and yellow and ran in a straight line from the lower right thigh to just above the knee cap.
He noted that the bruising appeared to be "consistent with blunt force trauma."
The child then told the deputy that a male relative had "tied him to a door with a dog leash."
The next day, investigators at the Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County corroborated that story from the child, as well as another witness who said they had seen a male relative tie the dog leash around the child's waist and then go to a store.
The six-year-old told the investigators that he "could not breathe because the leash was tight."
The witness confirmed that the leash was fastened tightly around his waist and posed him breathing problems because of his asthma.
A female relative who had also seen the incident said the young boy "was tied to the (garage) door for maybe 15 minutes" before she intervened and removed it.
She stated she had never seen any of the other children at the residence physically punished but said Winans would "randomly yell (at the boy) for moving around."
The child said his father had thrown clothes hangars and bottles hard enough at him to leave marks as punishment because he "did not like it when he moved around a lot."
He said he did not know how his leg became bruised.
One witness, however, told the authorities that she had seen Winans hit the six-year-old on his legs using the handle of a hammer which was "black in color" and had "black electrical tape around the handle."
During a search of the residence, investigators found both the dog leash and the hammer used in the assault.
When questioned, Winans admitted he had thrown hangars at his son but insisted that "it was done in an attempt to get his attention, and not as punishment."
He also said he had tied the young boy to the door using a dog leash "in an attempt to keep him from leaving the corner" and that it was clipped loosely around the door, and "was not tight."
However, he denied causing the bruises on the legs and said he knew nothing about the contusions or what they looked like.
On Thursday, August 15, deputies arrested Winans on suspicion of injuring a child with intent to commit bodily injury, which is a third-degree felony. He was released the next day after posting a $15,000 bond.
While it is currently unclear if he has been indicted by a grand jury yet, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a possible fine up to $10,000 if found guilty of his charges.