NEWPORT NEWS — An 8-year-old boy told police he was beaten so badly last week that he couldn't walk.
The boy was struck with a belt and a belt buckle by his mother, according to a criminal complaint.
The boy's mother, 34-year-old Tiffannie Braxton, was initially charged with malicious wounding for the Feb. 7 incident. On Wednesday, police charged her with the additional charges of felony child neglect and cruelty to a child. Police also charged Braxton's boyfriend, 34-year-old Roosevelt Pannell, of Yeardley Drive, with felony child neglect and cruelty to a child.
On Feb. 8, police went to Riverside Elementary School after receiving a report of suspected child abuse, according to Lou Thurston, a spokesman for Newport News police. The officer interviewed the boy, who said his mother had punished him for playing with fire by beating him with a belt, Thurston said.
The boy said that the belt hit all the way around his body and struck his legs, arms and back, according to the criminal complaint. The boy was examined by a Child Abuse Pediatrician. According to the doctor, the boy suffered blunt force trauma to his body which resulted in numerous pattern injury marks. 'There was severe and diffuse bruising to the child's arms, legs, and back," the doctor noted according to the complaint. The child also showed signs of blunt-force trauma to the face, according to the pediatrician.
"The pediatrician conclusively noted that the child had been struck dozens of time with a belt and buckle and the beating was severe enough to have caused internal injuries," the criminal complaint states.
The child told police that when he was younger, he would get hit with a switch and then a belt. He told police that he gets punched in the chest now that he's older, in addition to the switch and belt.
According to the criminal complaint, the boy said his mother "got one of those leather belts and hit me with it ten times … or twenty-four times."
The boy is in the custody of Child Protective Services. Pannell supplied Braxton with the belt she used to beat her son, according to police.
Braxton and Pannell were in Newport News jail on Wednesday, pending $5,000 bond each.
