Deputies: Father accused of beating 9-year-old son over iPad app purchases
PALM COAST, Fla. - A Palm Coast man is accused of beating his nine-year-old son after he and his younger brother made several iPad app purchases.
Deputies said Andrew Atkerson picked up his son and threw him against the walls and closets in their home on Feb 3. The alleged beating left bruises under both of the boy's eyes, his left hip, and his upper back right shoulder.
According to the Flagler Sheriff's Office, the child's mother reported the incident after picking him up from school and seeing the bruises.
When Atkerson was questioned about the bruises, he told the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), "I might have over punished them a little bit."
Since 2004, Atkerson has faced 20 different charges in California and Florida, according to authorities. Deputies said six of those were for battery.
The department said in 2017, Atkerson was arrested for felony domestic battery when he attacked his wife while his children watched.
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"No child should ever have to endure what this man did to his child. It appears this man has no ability to control his rage," Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said. "Parents have the right to discipline their children but cannot go overboard, which happened in this case. A more appropriate discipline would have been to restrict access to the iPad or make them do chores around the house to pay for the items they ordered, not beat their child. I'm thankful the mother reported her observations and the work our detectives and DCF have done on this case to protect the children. Child abuse victims often have to live with those scars forever."
Atkerson was arrested on felony child abuse charges and booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. He remains behind bars on a $12,500 bond.
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