LAWRENCE — A local man is facing assault charges after police say he beat his two children repeatedly with a phone charger cord because they were arguing over a toy car.
Amaurys Guzman, 28, of 191 Shawsheen Road, was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of aggravated assault and battery on a child under 14 and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was released yesterday after posting $5,000 cash bail.
In addition to beating his 9-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter with the phone charger wire, police said, Guzman threw a bag of oranges at his daughter.
Guzman, who was listed on his arrest report as a cashier at Ashle Market on Water Street in Lawrence, was expected to be arraigned in Lawrence District Court on Tuesday.
"Parents have the right to discipline their children, but not to the level involving abuse that this outrageous case did," police Chief John Romero said.
"Hitting any child with a wire should not be considered proper discipline. Beating any kid like that is just unbelievable. When (the state Department of) Children and Families became aware of it, they felt the same as we did and reported it to us."
Police said the beatings occurred on Thursday night, but didn't come to light until Friday afternoon, when two DCF workers called for a police officer to report to the South Lawrence East School to investigate a child abuse complaint.
"They advised me that they received a report from the school that a student told the school that his father hit him and his sister with a wire and had visible marks to his body," Officer Christopher Cote wrote in his report.
The brother and sister began arguing after they returned from a park Thursday night, according to Cote's report. The boy had returned with a toy car he said was given to him by a friend. His sister told him that he had to return the toy.
Police said their stepmother, who was on the telephone, got angry and asked the children why they were fighting.
The children told police that Guzman came home after their stepmother called "for him to get out of the club and come home because she was sick and tired of 'these kids,' that she could not deal with them anymore and he needed to come home," according to Cote's report.
"Both victims were in the kitchen eating when their father came in, went into the bedroom and came out with a phone charger wire cord, and began to hit them. During this, Guzman was calling both of them 'bastards' while hitting them."
Police and state DCF case workers noticed thin red marks on the boy's upper right arm and lower right forearm, and a thin red mark to his middle back. The girl had thin red marks to her upper left arm and middle back, according to the police report.
Both children told police that their father has hit them in the past. The daughter said she got whipped with a belt once.
"Unfortunately, we're seeing a few of these cases pop up where parents just go too far," Romero said. "And when these cases come to our attention, we take quick action. This kind of disciplining shouldn't be happening."
The DCF workers remained with the children at school while police obtained an arrest warrant for Guzman.
It was not clear last night whether DCF had taken custody of the children. Police said they were also not aware of any restraining order being issued against Guzman
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