BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man was arrested after allegedly hitting a six-year-old child and his father, causing injury.
Anthony “Todd” Gassett, 55, of Buckhannon, was arrested on two counts of domestic battery, a misdemeanor, and one count of child neglect resulting in injury, a felony.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Patrolman First Class Angel McCauley with the Buckhannon Police Department on May 8, McCauley, Sgt. Tom Posey with the BPD and sheriff’s deputy Deputy Bender responded to Zickefoose’s Trailer Park in reference to a domestic altercation.
Upon arrival, they were flagged down by a group at a camper near the entrance, where a minor child was bleeding from the left side of his head.
The child’s father said he returned from the store when he heard Gassett yelling at his kids. The child’s father stated this had been going on all day, and he confronted Gassett about screaming at his kids. The criminal complaint states that Gassett “is a person who is like a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim.”
After the child’s father reportedly confronted Gassett about yelling at his kids, Gassett started “going crazy” and allegedly physically attacking him. According to the report, Gassett was swinging at the father of the six-year-old and hit him in the head. Gassett also allegedly hit the minor child with a closed fist, which knocked the child into the counter, and the child suffered a serious head injury as a result, the report says.
The child’s father said he saw the blood, gathered the child and his younger brother, and removed them from the trailer to protect them. After removing them from the situation, Young called 911.
Upshur County Magistrate Mark Davis set bail at $25,000 cash or surety.
The penalty for a conviction of child neglect resulting in injury is a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 or confinement in a penitentiary for not less than one, nor more than three years, or in the discretion of the court, confinement in jail for not more than one year, or both. The penalty for each county of domestic battery is confinement in jail for not more than 12 months, a fine of not more than $500 or both.
