A Wisconsin man has been incarcerated on charges of child abuse after he purportedly caused multiple severe injuries to his 6-week-old son, asserting that he didn’t realize why it was deemed abusive since it “wasn’t intentional.”
William Page, aged 35, faces charges of repeated physical abuse of a child intentionally causing great bodily harm, strangulation, and suffocation, as reported by WLUK.
“We are lucky this is not a homicide,” Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said in court.
As per the complaint filed, Page’s wife took their infant to the hospital on September 29 due to injuries to the child’s mouth. She informed investigators that she had witnessed Page hitting the child’s chest about a week prior and that he consistently exhibited “angry outbursts” while taking care of the boy.
The document detailed that the child endured seven rib fractures, a clavicle fracture, fractures in both femurs, an eye hemorrhage, a chest contusion, and a wrist fracture.
According to reports, Page 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 confessed to having “emotional outbursts” directed 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… it’ll be there and snap which is obviously why I want to get back on medication,” Page stated 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.
