Daniel Schergen (LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office).
An Indiana man allegedly held a 7-year-old relative’s head against a car seat and tried to push a bar of soap into the child’s mouth after the boy used profanity, leaving him with a bleeding injury to his forehead, police said.
Daniel Schergen, 34, faces a felony charge of domestic battery against a child under 14 in connection with the alleged incident in LaPorte County in late August, according to court records.
According to investigators, Schergen was traveling in an SUV with his girlfriend, the boy and three other children. After one child was dropped off at football practice, the 7-year-old reportedly used what a witness called a “really bad” curse word, court documents cited by local CBS affiliate WSBT state.
Schergen allegedly told his girlfriend to stop at a convenience store in Kingsbury and purchase a bar of soap. Once she returned to the vehicle, he reportedly took the soap, restrained the boy’s head against the seat and attempted to force the soap into his mouth.
The child kept his mouth closed during the struggle, police said. Schergen allegedly struck him in the forehead, prompting the boy to fight back by hitting and kicking him several times.
The boy was reportedly left crying and screaming, with a bloody, oval-shaped mark on his forehead, according to police. Court documents say Schergen’s girlfriend returned to the store to buy alcohol wipes and bandages for the injury.
Investigators also alleged that Schergen had previously used soap as punishment against the child. Authorities began looking into the case in September after the Indiana Department of Child Services reported suspected physical abuse to police.
During questioning, Schergen reportedly said the boy struggled with anger and had been suspended from school for fighting with other children. He told investigators he was trying to replace traditional discipline, including spanking, with timeouts and conversations, although he admitted those approaches had not always worked, police said.
Photographs provided by the child’s mother allegedly showed redness on the boy’s forehead and bruising on his face following the August incident. Schergen reportedly acknowledged that the forehead redness resulted from holding the child’s head against the car seat.
LaPorte County Prosecutor Sean Fagan told WSBT that parents are legally permitted to discipline their children, but that authority is not unlimited.
“When you’re dealing with these kind of cases, you’re always having to ask yourself how much is too much when it comes to the discipline of a child or a minor,” Fagan said.
Schergen was taken into custody on a warrant Oct. 23 and released from the LaPorte County Jail five days later after posting a $750 bond, court records show.
A conviction could result in a prison sentence ranging from six to 30 months.
