SEATTLE — A Fort Lewis soldier has been charged with assault after he allegedly held his 4-year-old daughter mostly under water because she couldn’t recite the alphabet. Charging papers equated the technique to torture.
The incident came to light Jan. 31, when Joshua Tabor’s girlfriend called police and said he was walking around their Yelm, Wash., neighborhood wearing a Kevlar vest and threatening to break windows, according to charging documents.
When officers arrived, Tabor’s girlfriend told them that she and Tabor, 27, had just had an argument and that he beats his daughter, Yelm Police Chief Todd Stancil said. Officers found the girl hiding in a locked bathroom and covered with bruises all over her body, including her ears.
“Once she spoke to officers, she was articulate and told us right away, ‘Daddy did this,’ ” Stancil said.
The girl told officers that her father hits her, and she also said he would fill a sink, lay her on her back and put her head into the water until the water was up to her eyes, Stancil said.
According to Stancil and charging papers, Tabor told officers he used the water technique as a way to have his daughter learn the alphabet.
Prosecutors also allege Tabor would force his daughter to sit in urine-soaked clothes “until he gives her permission to change” as punishment for wetting herself.
Tabor is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 16 for arraignment.
