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First Posted: 1/31/2009
By Edward Lewis [email protected] Writer
WILKES-BARRE – A city man was arrested late Thursday night for allegedly sitting on a 4-month-old boy and flicking a cigarette after being told by officers to get off the infant, police said.
Ryan Michael Tarreto, 30, of Brazil Street, was charged with endangering the welfare of children, disorderly conduct and harassment. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $5,000 bail.
Police said the baby wasn’t injured.
According to the criminal complaint:
Shauna King, 30, told police Tarreto punched her in the arm and pushed her to the floor after he arrived home intoxicated just before midnight. King said after she fell onto the floor, Tarreto got on top of her and struck her legs several times.
Tarreto denied he struck King, and refused to leave the home to cool off. He questioned police why they were inside his residence.
Police said Tarreto refused officers’ commands to stop yelling because the 4-month old was sleeping.
King told police she would leave the residence with her son. She left the baby on a couch to gather items and walked into the kitchen where Tarreto was sitting in a chair.
Police alleged in the criminal complaint that Tarreto “staggered into the living room heading for the couch.” He was advised not to sit on the couch because the infant was already laying there.
“Tarreto looked at officer and then sat down on the baby. Officer then told Tarreto to get up as he was sitting on the baby, and he refused. Tarreto was again advised to get up off the baby, at which time he looked at officer and flicked his cigarette, and laid back on the baby completely covering (baby) up,” the criminal complaint says.
Police said they had to physically remove Tarreto from the couch.
Tarreto was handcuffed and escorted outside where he continued to scream, police said.
A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled on Feb. 9 in Central Court.