Homestead Father Arrested After Extended Assault on Autistic Son

A Homestead resident was taken into custody Thursday on child abuse charges following an incident that surveillance footage allegedly confirmed lasted nearly half an hour at his residence on Northeast 33rd Terrace. The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. at the home of David Martinez Jr., 31, according to the Homestead Police Department.

The confrontation began when the boy, who cannot speak, made sounds indicating he wanted something, police records indicate. Martinez questioned the child before turning off the bedroom light and striking him with an open hand multiple times, officers reported. He then removed a belt from elsewhere in the home and resumed the assault with the implement while the youngster sat crying on a sofa.

Throughout the ordeal, Martinez repeatedly left and returned to continue hitting the child with the belt, police said. At one point, he forcibly threw the boy onto the floor, then picked him up and hurled him back onto the sofa to resume striking him. The father later pushed the child onto a bed while hitting the mattress with the belt and yelling at him to stop crying, before turning the boy over and striking him with an open hand again.

Medical examination revealed abrasions and red marks on the child’s upper thighs, corroborating the mother’s account and in-home video evidence of the sustained abuse. Martinez was arrested on a charge of child abuse causing no great bodily harm and was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bail pending determination as of Friday.