Crime & Safety
Local Man Drops Child to 'Teach Him a Lesson'
An Essex Street man was arrested Sunday for allegedly injuring a child by dropping him on his head.
A local man who allegedly dropped a 6-year-old boy onto his head to "teach him a lesson" Sunday was arrested on a charge of assault and battery on a child.
Christopher Stiefel, 27, of 89 Essex St., Swampscott, pleaded innocent Monday in Lynn District Court to a charge of assault and battery on a child with injury.
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According to a police report filed by Patrolman Candace Doyle, she and officer Sal Caruso and officer Steven Luck responded at 11:16 p.m. to Essex Street for a report of a domestic dispute involving children.
Responding officers were met by a woman who told them that earlier in the day Stiefel, her live-in boyfriend, had dropped her 6-year-old son onto his head on a hardwood floor to teach him a lesson for injuring her other son, a 4-year-old, while wrestling.
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Officers noted that everyone at the residence appeared highly intoxicated when they arrived, according to court documents.
The woman told police that her son wasn't "acting like himself," was "dizzy and threw up a couple times," and was "sluggish" since the incident, according to court documents.
Steifel went on to tell his girlfriend that he "picked (her son) up about waist high and dropped him onto the floor causing him to hit his head ... to see 'how it felt' to hit his head," according to court documents.
When questioned by police, the boy reportedly told them that he and his brother were playing and "he bumped his head so I bumped my head," though he refused to say exactly how it happened.
Officers reportedly called for an ambulance to take the boy to North Shore Children's Hospital and Steifel, who was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, was placed under arrest.
A restraining order against Stiefel was filed by the boy's mother Monday morning, according to court documents.
Judge James Lamothe released Stiefel on his own recognizance and ordered that he stay away from the alleged victims and abide by the recently enacted restraining order.
He is scheduled to return to court on March 20 for a pretrial hearing.
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