New York Woman Accused of Beating Two Kids With Belt
According to WTEN, 25 year old, Ashley Abbott was arrested back on Tuesday for allegedly beating her boyfriends two children with a belt and police say the belt left injuries to a 9 and a 4 year old child.
Abbott is now facing assault and child endangerment charges and has gone public in her defense saying that she grew up with this kind of punishment and that there was never any malicious intent behind it.
The incident happened on Sunday and Abbott gave her explanation as to what happened. She says that she was watching a total of 5 kids, “They were hitting, biting each other. It was utter chaos. So I told them if they didn’t stop that I was going to spank them with the belt. They continued to fight with one another. So, I took out the belt and I spanked them each once.”
The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office and Child Protective Services conducted an investigation into the incident and determined that welts and bruises were evidence that the punishment was excessive and Abbott was arrested.
Abbott and her boyfriend Vince Le Clair insist the marks that police are referring to were mostly from horseplay.