Bainbridge man charged with battery of son

Friday, August 18, 2006

A Bainbridge man was arrested and placed in the Putnam County Jail Wednesday night on charges that he hit his 6-year-old son on the back with a stick.

The boy told police that his father, 37-year-old Shawn Alan Snyder, got mad at him and struck him on the back, leaving what officers who examined the boy described as a baseball-size bruise.

Snyder was arrested by Putnam County Sheriff's Deputy Craig Sibbitt shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday for battery resulting in bodily injury to a person less than 14 years old and neglect of a dependent.

According to Sibbitt's report, Snyder and the boy's mother do not live together but exchange visits with their son. It was during one of those visits that police believe the alleged abuse took place.

"He said, 'Daddy hit me,'" Sibbitt said of his interview with the boy this week. "I asked him why and he said, 'Daddy got mad.'"

Sibbett said the boy first talked about the alleged abuse to his aunt, who then informed the boy's grandmother and finally the boy's mother. The three were interviewed at the sheriff's department Wednesday night.

Sibbett said he also observed that the boy had a black eye, however the boy told him that he had fallen off his bicycle.

A social worker with Child Protective Services was also called to talk to the boy and was told by the boy that his father hit him with the stick, Sibbett said.

In a separate incident, Snyder was arrested on Aug. 5 for resisting law enforcement and battery.

Sibbett said sheriff's deputies responded to the intersection of U.S. 231 and U.S. 36 that night on a report that Snyder had tried to run over his wife after the couple exchanged their son for a weekend visit.

He said the woman was taken to the hospital after the door of the vehicle knocked her down in the parking lot of Country Folks Dairy Bar.

The 6-year-old boy was in the car and witnessed the incident, Sibbitt said. He told the deputy that "daddy had tried to run over mommy."

Snyder was released from jail a short time after his Aug. 5 arrest after posting bond. No bond has been set for this latest arrest, but Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter said Snyder could be brought before the judge sometime today for his official arraignment, at which time a new bond would be set.

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