REVERE, MASS. (WHDH) - A Revere police officer charged with physically abusing his girlfriend’s young son was ordered held on $5,000 bail Thursday at his arraignment in Chelsea District Court.
Marcos Garcia, 32, of Saugus, was arraigned on charges of assault and battery on a child causing injury and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Garcia is accused of forcing a five-year-old boy to strip naked before handcuffing, beating and whipping him with a belt because he “did not eat dinner quickly enough,” Assistant District Attorney Alissa Goldhaber told the court. Goldhaber said Garcia also choked the boy and slammed him to the ground.
Garcia, who was said to be romantically involved with the boy’s mother, was arrested Saturday night. Police said the woman is also an officer in Revere.
Prosecutors said Garcia told the boy and his brother to tell anyone who asked about the beating that the wounds were the result of a fall down a flight of stairs.
The following day, a nurse at the boy’s school noticed bruises on the boy’s torso, neck and arms. The boy was taken to Boston Children’s Hospital for treatment. According to Goldhaber, clinicians detected elevated liver enzymes, which are sometimes attributable to abdominal trauma.
The boy originally told investigators that he had fallen down stairs, but then told investigators that he wanted to “tell the real truth,” Goldhaber said.
It’s alleged that Garcia beat the boy and his brother on multiple occasions, often saying he wanted to teach them how to be men.
Both Garcia and the female officer have since been placed on administrative leave.
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