Carson City man arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse

A 21-year-old Carson City man was arrested in the 700 block of Hot Springs Road on a felony child-abuse count for allegedly slapping his girlfriend’s son and grabbing him by the throat and arms.

According to the man’s arrest report:

When a deputy arrived at the child’s home at 3:14 p.m. Sunday, the child had fresh bruising on the left side of his face, as well as his chest, back and neck. The boy’s mother said she’d woken to hear her son screaming, and that she’d heard her boyfriend ask the boy, “Do you want to get choked out?” and “Do you want to die?” from behind a locked bathroom door.

The boyfriend, Michael Isaiah Rodriguez, later called and asked to speak to the deputy about the incident, and the deputy responded to the 700 block of Hot Springs Road at 8:39 p.m. Rodriguez allegedly said he’d put the child to bed early because he had friends visiting, and they’d planned to smoke marijuana. He said he’d heard a thud from the child’s room, then saw the boy had wet his pants.

He said that as he tried to get the boy changed into dry clothes and change the bedding, the child fought with him and tried to get back into the bed. Rodriguez said he slapped the boy in the face twice, then picked him up to take him to the bathroom to get changed. He said the boy continued to struggle and began to slide out of his arms, and that he grabbed the boy by the throat and arms as he tried to catch him. Rodriguez added that he again slapped the child and told him to “chill out.”

Rodriguez was arrested at 9:42 p.m. Bail was set at $20,000. He remained in custody Monday at the Carson City Jail.