Allen+Police+Officer++2

 =Court documents detail alleged child abuse by Allen officers=

by STEVE STOLER / WFAA-TV Posted on March 26, 2010 at 11:58 AM //Updated Friday, Mar 26 at 12:29 PM//

Related:
ALLEN — Court documents show a doctor who examined the 11-year-old son of an Allen police officer says the child was clearly the victim of physical abuse. The boy's mother and stepfather — who is also an Allen police officer — are both charged with crimes relating to the incident. The court documents obtained by News 8 show Allen police Cpl. Melissa Smith told a Child Protective Services investigator she had slapped her son in the past. She is charged with injury to a child in what sheriff's officials say was much more than slapping. The alleged incident happened at the Smiths' residence in Allen. According to the arrest affidavit, it all started when Melissa Smith's 11-year-old son was "disrespectful, rolling his eyes and making sarcastic comments toward her." The court documents say she disciplined him by "striking him on the head with a metal spoon, striking him in the face with her hands and striking him on his buttocks with a belt, leaving severe marks and bruising." "A physician did examine the child, and in their opinion, did determine it was abuse," said Collin County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. John Norton. According to the affidavit, the boy's stepfather, Robert Darrin Smith, came home a short time later and "handcuffed the victim, threw him to the ground, strangled him, picked him up and placed him in a car and transported him to the Allen Police Department." The court document says the two spoke for a while in the parking lot, where Smith told the boy to apologize to his mother. The child was later told to write sentences saying he would not disrespect his mother. Officer Robert Smith is charged with official oppression. "Texas does recognize a parental right to discipline their child," Norton said. "The question is, what is too far?" According to the court documents, a CPS investigator asked the boy's mother at what point the discipline would rise to the level of abuse, in her opinion. She responded if she beat her son with a baseball bat and broke his bones, then that would be abuse. Both officers are on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
 * [|Allen police officers arrested in child discipline case]
 * City of Allen Police Department Web site