The Washington State Patrol has been asked to investigate after a Tacoma grandmother says two Tacoma police officers told her to beat her grandson with a belt.
Our news partner, The News Tribune, obtained the police reports from the incident and talked to the 54-year-old grandmother. She told them her 9-year-old grandson has the mental capacity of a 4-year old and was at her home with two workers from Catholic Community Services when he started breaking glass on June 5.
The grandmother, who recently had back surgery, said she made a quick trip to the pharmacy, and her grandson smashed glass and dishes while she was gone and was holding two knives when she got home.
The workers from Catholic Community Services had already called 911.
The grandmother told The News Tribune the officers asked her if she had a belt and to go get it. She says they told her to beat her grandson with the belt.
She says police refused to call an aid car to help her bleeding grandson, and told her they would have Child Protective Services take him away if she didn't beat him.
She felt she had no other choice, so she finally did.
The first police report written by the officers on June 5 didn't mention the belt, according to The News Tribune, while a second police report written on June 6th states that the officers advised the woman to use the belt and told her it was her legal right to do so.
The little boy was taken to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital where he was involuntarily committed, according to the newspaper.
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