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Man Made 6-Year-Old Drink Beer, Authorities Say

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By ANTHONY CORMIER / Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: October 2, 2007

MANATEE COUNTY - Authorities say a 35-year-old man fought with his wife and took out his frustration by beating her 6-year-old son and forcing the boy to drink beer.

They say a screaming match between the man and his wife Sunday night preceded abuse of the boy, whom police say was forced by his stepfather to guzzle a can of Coors Light.

Sheriff's deputies say Shane Garrett made the child drink the beer, then grabbed him by the face and slammed him against a wall. Garrett was in Manatee County Jail on Monday, charged with aggravated child abuse, a felony.

The boy was traumatized but not seriously injured, his mother said.

Jennifer Garrett, who married Shane Garrett in 2004, said her husband "is a pretty nice guy when he's not drinking."

He was drinking heavily Sunday night, and the two began arguing, she said. When she went into the kitchen at their home in the 900 block of 59th Avenue Drive West, her husband tried to hand the boy a Heineken.

The boy refused, so Shane Garrett handed him a can of Coors Light, his wife said.

She disputed the police account that Garrett shoved the boy into a wall, saying he violently squeezed the child's face.

The boy was crying, she said. "Shane came out saying, 'I didn't do nothing to him,'" she said. "I knew, though. I just knew."

Investigators also say Shane Garrett slapped his wife, put her in a headlock and threatened to "snap her neck." A physician told Jennifer Garrett that her shoulder was sprained and her rotator cuff torn.

Shane Garrett, a carpenter, has a history of domestic violence, according to court records. In 2005, he was arrested and eventually pleaded no contest to a battery count for head-butting his wife, authorities say.

During that incident, sheriff's deputies pepper-sprayed Garrett at the couple's home in south Manatee County. He was placed on probation for a year.

Weeks after that arrest, Jennifer Garrett asked the court for a restraining order. She said in court papers that her husband struggled with an alcohol problem and called her names and that she was afraid he would kill her. But she did not show up for a court hearing, and the domestic violence injunction was dropped.

She filed a new injunction against her husband Monday afternoon.

Shane Garrett was in Manatee County Jail on Monday with bail set at $3,000. It was not known whether he has a lawyer. He is scheduled to be arraigned this week.

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