McCausland successfully defends father against assault charge

The mother saw a Vancouver Police Department patrol car on Fourth Plain Boulevard and waved her arms to get the officer’s attention, then she and her daughter told the officer what they'd seen. The officer spoke to the father, and noted in his report that the right side of the child’s face was reddening. The father told the officer that he’d been upset because he’d been doing laundry and realized his son had run outside of the laundromat into the parking lot toward the street. He admitted that he might have "lost it” for a moment, according to the officer's report.

Child Protective Services was contacted. A social worker came to the scene and took custody of the child. After its own investigation, CPS determined it did not have a cause to keep the child from his family and returned him home.

An assistant city attorney, however, chose to take the case to trial. The father was charged with fourth-degree assault domestic violence, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in jail.

The father testified at trial that he was doing laundry and his son was helping him, and then he looked back to where his child had been standing and he wasn’t there. He couldn’t find him in the laundromat, then saw him outside running across the parking lot toward Fourth Plain Boulevard. Panicked, he raced outside, caught up to his son and was scolding him for running away. He said he spanked him, and then slapped him after putting him in his car seat.

The jury deliberated for approximately 30 minutes before returning the verdict of not guilty.