By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 43-year-old Stillwater man has been charged with using unreasonable force on his 2-year-old son by hitting him in the buttocks and upper thigh with a back scrub brush beyond what is necessary for the purpose of discipline and control.
Christian Arvizo was arrested at 5:46 pm on June 22 after admitting to Stillwater Police Detective Mary Kellison “I know I lost control,” an affidavit alleged.
Arvizo was released from the Payne County Jail on June 24 on $5,000 bail pending his return to court on Sept. 12 when he can seek a preliminary hearing on the injury to minor child felony charge, court records show.
The injuries on the toddler were discovered at his daycare facility on June 22 after the boy was dropped off there by his father at 9:25 am with his class, who were outside on the playground, an affidavit alleged.
An employee said that it appeared there were “physical injuries caused by (the toddler) being hit by something. She described the injuries as being red, not raised with no bruising present. She described several areas that were red on the outside and white on the inside with a patterned shape but didn’t know what could have caused the injuries,” the affidavit said.
After the child’s mother was called, she asked to see pictures of the injuries and then contacted Arvizo, who admitted spanking the boy that morning before bringing him to daycare, the affidavit alleged.
The child’s mother told the daycare employee that she had told her husband not to spank the toddler, the affidavit alleged. She said, “she and Christian have had this conversation before and that it was unacceptable,” the affidavit alleged.
“While I was in the process of speaking with workers at the daycare, Christian showed up. I made a statement to Christian that it looked like (the toddler’s) injuries were caused by him spanking or hitting him with a spoon or something similar,” the detective wrote in her affidavit.
“Christian made a voluntary admission stating: ‘You’re right. He was misbehaving. I told him not to do something over and over again. I blew up. I spanked him. It’s that simple,” the affidavit alleged.
When the detective spoke again to the father at the Stillwater Police Department, “Christian advised that he has a tablet hooked up to a speaker on the kitchen counter. Christian said (the toddler) knows he is not supposed to touch the tablet/speaker, and he blew up. Christian said he walked into the kitchen and caught (the toddler) playing with the tablet/speaker.
“Christian told me normally when he spanks (the toddler), he uses his hand and doesn’t grab another device to ‘beat him.’ Christian said, ‘I lost control this morning. Christian said, ‘I grabbed a back scrubber brush and gave him two swats on each butt cheek.’ Christian said his wife had already left for school, and (the toddler) was sitting in a highchair seat. He shimmied over to the counter and touched the tablet.
“Christian told me when he saw that, it pissed him off because he has told (the toddler) numerous times not to do that. Christian explained at that point that he had already made the decision to bust (the toddler’s) butt. Christian told me he grabbed (the toddler) from the kitchen and took him into the bedroom,” where his teenage daughter sometimes stays, the detective alleged in her affidavit.
“Christian advised me that he told (the 2-year-old) to pull his diaper down. Christian had (the toddler) lean against the bunk beds in the room and spanked (him) on the bottom with his open hand. Christian said (the toddler) was squirming around, and he left the room to get the back scrubber brush out of his master bathroom and swatted him a couple more times with the brush on his butt. Christian advised me he was holding (the toddler’s) upper arm to control him while he was spanking him with the back scrubber brush,” the detective alleged in her affidavit.
“I asked Christian if (the toddler) was crying, and he said ‘yes.’ I asked Christian if he felt like he had lost control this morning, and he said, ‘I know I lost control.’ I asked Christian if he thought how he spanked his son this morning was excessive, being that his son was two years old, and he was 6’5′ and weighed over 200 pounds. Christian lowered his head, teared up, and nodded his head yes,” the detective alleged in her affidavit.
