A Wisconsin man has been jailed on child abuse charges after he allegedly inflicted multiple severe injuries on his 6-week-old son and said he didn’t understand why it was considered abuse since it “isn’t intentional.”
William Page, 35, has been charged with repeated physical abuse of a child intentionally causing great bodily harm, strangulation, and suffocation, WLUK reported.
“We are lucky this is not a homicide,” Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said in court.
According to a complaint filed in the case, Page’s wife brought the baby to hospital on September 29 because of injuries to the boy’s mouth. She told investigators that she had seen Page strike the boy’s chest about a week earlier and that he regularly had “angry outbursts” while caring for the child.
The document said the child suffered seven rib fractures, a clavicle fracture, fractures to both femurs, an eye hemorrhage, a chest contusion, and a wrist fracture.
Page reportedly told investigators that he “punched walls, hit doors, slammed doors, hit my bedside table, there’s a wall down there I kind of beat at to release anger.” He also admited to “emotional outbursts” at his wife.
“Yeah, for me like it gets to the point, like, like I was talking to my pediatrician, like, er my physician, where like my anger, you know, for typically like it just builds, builds, builds, builds … but lately with the colic, which is him crying constantly and so high pitched it seems like my anger will just like, all of a sudden just like snap …i t’ll be there and snap which is obviously why I want to get back on medication,” Page said according to the affidavit.
He admitted to slapping the child once and said sometimes he squeezed him so hard he went limp.
“Bill stated he held Victim 1 tightly against him and he went limp and was crying on Saturday,” the affidavid said. “Sgt. Fitzpatrick asked Bill how many times he held Victim 1 to his chest so tightly to the point where there would be less crying and his body would go limp, and Bill indicated ‘maybe once every four or five times.’”
Page even admitted that he could have killed the boy.
“It’s possible, but not meaning to, yes, it could have happened, yeah,” he said, according to the complaint.
When told he was going to be charged with child abuse, Page responded, “I don’t know why this is considered abuse …his isn’t intentional.”
According to Law&Crime, Page made an initial appearance in court on Thursday and was ordered held on a $100,000 bond.
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[Featured image: William Page/Outagamie County jail]
