Boy secretly filmed father beating disabled toddler, police say

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas — A boy videotaped his father beating his 2-year-old brother in Leander and then reported it to authorities, an arrest affidavit reveals.

The boy’s father, Alejandro Gonzalez, 48, was charged with injury to a child, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

The boy first told school authorities at his middle school in Leander about the abuse and they alerted the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office on May 24, the affidavit stated.

The boy said he saw his father grab his 2-year-old brother by the hair on May 22 and violently shake him while the toddler was in a high chair at their Leander home, according to the affidavit.

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It said the 2-year-old boy has difficulty chewing and swallowing because he has cerebral palsy. Gonzalez became angry because the toddler would not eat, the affidavit said.

The older brother used his cellphone to videotape his father shaking the 2-year-old, according to the affidavit. It said the middle schooler then sent the video to an older sister to prevent Gonzalez from finding the video on the older boy’s phone.

A deputy saw the video and it confirmed what the middle schooler had told him, the affidavit said. The deputy also saw pictures that showed bruises and red marks on the buttocks and lower back of the 2-year-old boy, according to the affidavit.

It said those marks were caused by Gonzalez “disciplining the child using a belt and a fly swatter” on another occasion.

Gonzalez was being held Tuesday at the Williamson County Jail with bail set at $100,000.

Cox Media Group