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Neighbors: No signs of trouble
Photo
SOBER SIGNS: Brookfield Township Police took this picture of the marks and bruises on the body of an 8-year-old boy. His stepfather, Damion Wise, has been charged with felonious assault and child endangering.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BROOKFIELD — Neighbors of an 8-year-old boy who police say was beaten by his stepfather say the boy appeared to be alone in the yard a lot.
But they never imagined he was the victim of child abuse.
When police responded to the house on Everett East Road on Saturday and interviewed the boy, they discovered injuries and tales of physical and mental abuse on a grand scale, including his being forced to remain outside in the yard for long periods of time by himself.
He had been hit in the feet, ankles, lower legs and head with a bat, was wearing a child’s dirty diaper, was dehydrated, had black eyes, facial swelling and bruises on his hand, arm, chest, back and stomach.
The boy was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital and was expected to be released to the custody of the Trumbull County Children Services by Tuesday or today. His 5-month-old brother already is in CSB custody.
The boy’s stepfather, Damion Wise, 30, is in Trumbull County Jail, facing charges that could land him in prison for 16 years.
Bob Lucarell Sr., who lives one house down and across the street from the boy, said when Wise, his wife, Celinda, and the boy moved into the rural, upper-class neighborhood, they were thrilled.
Unlike many of the other renters in recent years at 5961 Everett East, this family was taking excellent care of the sizable yard and house.
The grass was cut, the weeds trimmed, and extra work had been done around a pond to the side of the house.
But the family kept to themselves and were low-key. They never had visitors, and they never approached the Lucarells to talk.
“You never heard anything. They were very quiet people. All we heard was the weed-whacker and the lawn mower,” said Lucarell, who works regularly in his yard and rental property directly across the street from the boy’s house.
Lucarell and his wife, Cheryl, found it odd that the boy was alone in the yard a lot, but it appeared to be the behavior of a lonely boy with no siblings and few neighborhood children to play with, not child abuse.
“If we’d seen anything, we’d have called 911. We’re not afraid to get involved and use our names. We’re just sick about it,” Bob Lucarell said, adding that because his house is set back from the road a distance, he observed activity in the yard only when he was working in the front yard.
The couple did meet Celinda a couple of weeks ago when Celinda asked about the Lucarell’s rental property.
They small-talked about her baby, and Cheryl asked about the 8-year-old’s being in the yard so much.
“She said he likes to sit out in the yard,” Bob Lucarell said. “We didn’t know.”
Added Cheryl, “It is so hard to believe it [allegations of child abuse]. You never heard a peep. It’s so hard to believe he took that kind of punishment. You never heard anything.”
A neighbor several houses away on the other side of the boy’s house said she had not heard about the incident previously, and Tuesday she said she had noticed the boy outside at several points during the summer, but there was nothing unusual about it until last week.
She drove past the house at 7:15 a.m. Friday, and he was outside already.
A day or so before that, she remembered seeing him several times the same day, always sitting still in the yard.
“He was sitting with his head down, his legs crossed, and he never moved,” she said. She started to wonder whether the boy had autism or some other condition.
“It was to the point where every time I went up the road, I saw him,” she said.
In an interview, the boy said his stepfather had beaten him since the man married his mother two years ago.
The boy said his stepfather shut his hand in the shed door Friday and hits him with his fist and a small baseball bat (once recently in the head), threatens to kill him, cut off a certain body part, make him “brain dead,” and has stuck his fingers down the boy’s throat.
Celinda Wise, who works a full- time job, told police she wasn’t aware of the bruises and injuries her son had because her husband keeps the boy away from her. She said she was aware of some of her son’s injuries and told her husband to stop calling the boy names but didn’t report him because of her fear of him.
Brookfield police were called to the Wise home June 20 for a domestic-violence call involving Celinda Wise, Damion Wise and their infant son, township police Chief Dan Faustino said.
Celinda Wise called police because she and her husband had been arguing all day, and she decided to leave. That caused Damion Wise to hold a knife to her neck, which left a mark, and he tried to put his thumbs into her eyes, a Brookfield police report said.
He eventually threw an object through the rear window of Celinda Wise’s vehicle, which endangered the baby, Faustino said. Damion Wise was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence and child endangering in that case, Faustino said.
The report makes no mention of an 8-year-old, Faustino said.
The Lucarells are among many neighbors wishing to help the injured boy and are collecting toys, clothing and gifts to give to CSB to give to him.
A Brookfield police officer will be gathering the items to take to CSB on Thursday, Bob Lucarell said.
Others are encouraged to contact the CSB offices to make donations of gift cards to the boy, said Petrine Lucarell, who is married to Bob and Cheryl Lucarell’s son, Bob, and lives a short distance up the street. She talked to a CSB caseworker about the donations Tuesday.
The phone number for CSB is (330) 372-2010.
No charges have been filed against Celinda Wise. Damion Wise will appear in Central District Court in Brookfield at 10 a.m. Thursday for sentencing on the events of June 20 and a preliminary hearing on the two most recent charges.
He remains in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond.
Marcia Tiger, CSB director, could not be reached Tuesday to comment on any contact the agency had with the family before Saturday.
runyan@vindy.com