Sunday, July 21, 2013

Dad beats 12-year-old son after boy told him to stop beating his girlfriend (Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Dad is identified as GABRIEL ARCHULETA. The custody/visitation situation is not explained here, but clearly this @$$hole of a father had some sort of child access he didn't deserve. You can just about be he has a history of violence with the mother as well. These types usually do. 

Notice how the police refused to take Daddy's assault seriously. Typical daddy coddling. 

http://www.riograndesun.com/articles/2013/07/20/cops_courts/doc51e726e52d5e3727746700.txt

Mannerly Boy Pummeled by Father 

Christopher Archuleta, 12, is still recovering from the beating his father, 32-year-old Gabriel Archuleta, allegedly administered July 7, after Christopher told Gabriel to stop hitting his girlfriend. Christopher’s mother said when she reported the assault to State Police, officer Nicholas Levine said there wasn’t enough evidence to make an arrest, despite her son’s face being severely bruised.

By Nathan J. Comp SUN Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, July 18, 2013 10:05 AM MDT

A Calle Redonda Trailer Park resident was arrested July 12, six days after he allegedly pummeled his 12-year-old son after his son scolded him for slapping around his girlfriend.

Gabriel Archuleta, 32, was arraigned in Santa Fe Magistrate Court July 15 on a felony count of child abuse and criminal damage to property. He is currently being held on $100,000 cash-only bond. 

Archuleta’s son, Christopher Archuleta, said he, his father and his father’s girlfriend were returning home from a Lil’ Mayhem concert in Albuquerque when his father, who he said had been drinking all day, became enraged after losing his phone. When Gabriel Archuleta’s girlfriend told him she didn’t know where his phone was, he allegedly began slapping her.

“I told him you don’t hit girls,” said Christopher Archuleta, the bruises on his face still visible a week later. *

Christopher Archuleta said his father, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, pushed the seat back, pinning his legs, and began punching him with a closed fist. The boy said his father punched him more than 20 times.

“He punched me from Sombrillo to El Llano,” he said.

The girlfriend, he said, pulled up to Gabriel Archuleta’s mother’s residence and exited the vehicle. Christopher, seeing his chance to escape, fled the vehicle. He said his father then picked up a cinder block and began to chase him.

Through the darkness, Christopher Archuleta said he ran until coming to the street, where he flagged a passing motorist. He said he banged on the window, begging the motorist for help. But before the motorist could respond, the boy saw his father running toward him with the cinder block.

“I jumped into the back seat,” he said.

The motorist turned out to be Gabriel Archuleta’s girlfriend, he said. As she sped off, Gabriel Archuleta allegedly threw the cinder block at the vehicle, causing a large dent. Christopher Archuleta’s mother, Julie Wyman, wondered if her son hadn’t gotten away whether he’d be dead right now.

“What the hell was he going to do with the cinder block?” she asked. “He’s lucky he didn’t kill Christopher.”

The next day, Gabriel Archuleta sent Wyman this text message in reference to their son, who refused to speak with his father following the incident.

“What? He thinks he’s bad now?” the text read. “I will show that lil boy how I roll. (Expletive) kid thinks he’s tough now? haha. that’s funny.”

Wyman met her son at EspaƱola Hospital following the beating.

“He had all these bruises and a huge lump on his face,” she said.

She said she called State Police, but an officer never arrived at the hospital. Once he was discharged, they went to the State Police EspaƱola Office, where she said officer Nicholas Levine told them there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest Gabriel Archuleta. 

“They said they couldn’t do anything unless he had a warrant,” Wyman said. “Isn’t his face evidence enough?”

Levine was unavailable for comment. His superior, Captain Roman Jimenez, didn’t return calls as of press time.

Wyman said it was only after she contacted the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department that police seemed to take the incident seriously.

Wyman said the beating has given her son nightmares and he startles easily when someone knocks at the door. Until his father was arrested, he lived in fear his father would come for him, she said. 

Christopher Archuleta said it is the first time his father has hit him, but he’s determined to make it the last time.

“I don’t even want to see him anymore,” he said. “I’m happy he’s not on the streets hurting people.”