Man arrested after child cut on throat

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A Marble Hill man was in the Bollinger County Jail on Thursday on a $75,000 cash-only bond after a 7-year-old child's throat was cut.

William O. Chasteen faces five felony charges -- domestic assault with a weapon, endangering the welfare of a child, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and abuse of a child.

The Bollinger County Sheriff's Department was notified Monday by Woodland School Resource Officer Stash Petton and Leslie Ulen of the Division of Family Services that the boy said Chasteen had cut his throat with a knife the previous night.

Interviews with both Chasteen and the child led investigators to believe the incident was one of many and the child had not told anyone about them. According to a probable-cause report filed by Det. Della Moore, Chasteen said he and the juvenile "butt heads a lot."

When the boy began talking back to him that day, Chasteen said he "wanted to use a scare tactic to make him listen," according to the report. Chasteen said he put his pocket knife to the boy's throat while the child was in bed and told him, "One day this was what would happen to him if he kept on talking back," the report said. The child stood up and Chasteen admitted that he shoved him into a wall, causing a bruise on his head, according to the report.

Moore said the child had a bruise on his head the size of a golf ball. He also had a large cut from approximately the center of his throat to the left side of his neck.

The child reportedly told authorities that Chasteen had hit him several times in the chest with his fist. There were no marks on the boy's chest, but his collarbone appeared to be bruised and slightly swollen.

Chasteen explained he does occasionally hit the child in the chest, but added "that's the way we play," Moore's report said.

Moore said that during questioning Chasteen was very agitated, punching the wall of the sheriff's office. He waived his Miranda rights and told authorities he didn't remember everything that happened because he had been drinking, according to the report.

Chasteen claimed the entire incident was an accident, and said that he would not hurt the child on purpose.

Family services officials put a safety plan in place to keep the child from further contact with Chasteen.

According to the probable-cause statement, Chasteen was convicted in 1996 of first-degree cruelty toward a child in Pasco County, Fla.

Pertinent address:

Marble Hill, Mo.