A Massachusetts state trooper has been suspended after he was charged with punching his son in the face.
Michael Gagnon was arrested on November 25, according to the Plympton Police Department, which said he was charged with domestic assault and battery and aggravated assault on a child under age 14.
He was given a $1,000 bond, which he promptly paid and was released.
The incident took place in late August, according to WCVB, but was not reported to the Department of Children and Families until November 24.
At that time, the victim told a caseworker that Gagnon punched him in the face, according to a police report.
“The children were then advised by Michael Gagnon to say that a whiffle ball bat was the cause of the mark and that it was accidental,” the report states.
The report said that the incident took place while the victim — Gagnon’s son — was visiting his father, who is going through a divorce with the child’s mother.
The mother told investigators that the boy threw “tantrums” whenever he was to visit his father, and after a doctors suggested a therapist, the boy told the therapist what happened, Boston25 reported.
Gagnon was suspended by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission on Tuesday, WCVB reported.
His next court date is January 12.
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