Jun 16, 2008 6:06 am US/Pacific
Man Beating Baby Said 'Demons' Were In Boy
TURLOCK (CBS13/AP) ―
Police fatally shot a Turlock man as he kicked, punched and stomped a young toddler to death in front of horrified motorists who tried to stop the attack on a dark country road, authorities said.
Investigators identified the man as 27-year-old Sergio Casian Aguiar, and say he was the father of the boy. The Stanislaus County coroner said the boy appeared to be between one and two-year-old based on his size, according to Stanislaus County Sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh.
"It's been a long night of wondering why, not only for the officers and the passers-by who stopped and tried to help out, but for anyone. Why would somebody do this?" Singh said.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department began receiving calls late Saturday night from motorists witnessing a man beating a young baby. The suspect had a child's car seat in the back of his four-door pickup truck, which caught the attention of an elderly couple at 10:13 p.m. Saturday because it was stopped in the two-lane road facing the wrong direction, Singh said.
"What we got from witnesses is he was punching, slapping, kicking, stomping, shaking," Singh said. "They tried to intervene and get involved, but their efforts really didn't have an effect. The suspect was engaged in what he was doing. He just pushed them off and went back to it."
A volunteer fire chief who tried to stop the man from beating a child to death described a horrific scene. Dan Robinson jumped out of his vehicle and tried to stop the suspect from kicking and stomping a toddler to death. Robinson, who is the chief of the Crows Landing Volunteer Fire Department, says the man was saying "demons" were in the boy.
A Sheriff's Department helicopter arrived on scene at Bradbury Road near the Blaker Road intersection before any units on the ground. The helicopter crew saw the man kicking a baby in the head, according to authorities. The crew made an emergency landing in a nearby cow pasture, and a Modesto police officer left the aircraft and moved toward the man. The officer, Jerry Ramar, fatally shot Aguiar after he failed to heed the officer's warning to stop beating the child, authorities said. Aguiar flashed his middle finger at Ramar before Ramar shot him in the forehead, police said.
"I have never seen anything like that before and I hope I never have to again," Ramar said.
The infant was rushed to a Turlock medical center, but was pronounced dead. Authorities say the injuries to the baby were so severe they will need to make an identification through a blood or DNA test.
Authorities have not released the name of the boy's mother.
Aguilar had no previous criminal history, police said. Results of toxicology tests on Aguilar are expected in four weeks.
Ramar has been placed on paid administrative leave, a routine response for officer-involved shootings.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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