Bremerton man charged for assaulting child

Bremerton resident David Shane Franklin Weatherly, 27, has been charged in Kitsap County District Court with assault of a child in the first degree.

According to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office, detectives went to Harrison Hospital this past Friday regarding a 2-year-old boy that had sustained injuries while in the care of Weatherly. The child had blunt force trauma injuries, bruising on his face, a lighter burn mark on his arm along with scratches and internal injuries. The child, after vomiting continuously the next morning, was taken back to the hospital and eventually transported to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma to be treated for stomach and liver damage.

"In speaking later with the charge nurse at Harrison Hospital, she stated these injuries are consistent with child abuse and could be caused by blunt force trauma to the stomach," a probable cause statement reads.

The child's condition at that point was dire.

"The two year-old victim most likely would have died if he had not been taken to Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton and subsequently transported to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, where he underwent surgery to repair internal injuries sustained as a result of blunt force trauma," said sheriff's office spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson.

Weatherly's bail was initially set at $350,000. His arrest on child assault charges follows another assault of a child in Seabeck Jan. 28. In that case, Jason Reeser, 34, was arrested for first degree assault after a 4-year-old girl suffered serious head injuries. She eventually underwent surgery for subdural hematoma. That victim remains in critical condition at Mary Bridge.

 

Contact Central Kitsap Reporter Staff Writer Kevan Moore at kmoore@soundpublishing.com.

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