Van Buren police arrested a man after he allegedly struck a one-month-old baby boy repeatedly in the genitalia after the child urinated on him during a diaper change.
James Wesley Mattingly, 25, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of second degree battery. He was booked into the Crawford County Detention Center, according to the Van Buren Police Department.
The child’s mother asked Mattingly to look after the baby while she went to the store. When she returned, the mother told police she saw Mattingly striking the baby in the genitalia, said Det. Jonathan Wear with the Van Buren Police Department.
“The reason Mattingly gave for striking the baby is because the baby had urinated on him while he was changing a diaper,” Wear said. “The baby was treated and released from the hospital.”
