SPPD: Man arrested for allegedly physically abusing his two young children

A Santa Paula man was arrested Thursday for allegedly physically abusing his two young daughters in front of his pregnant wife.

Richard McElroy, according to court records, was out of jail on his own recognizance after he had pleaded guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge stemming from another incident that occurred in 2013.

According to Santa Paula Police Sgt. Cody Madison, officers responded January 15 to a residence in the 200 block of North 12th Street where the child abuse allegedly occurred.

“The mother reported a child abuse incident that just occurred involving her children, who were the victims,” and identified her husband, 33-year-old McElroy, as the suspect.

Madison reported that just before she left the house she saw her husband, “physically abusing their daughters, ages 3 years old and 8 months old.”

McElroy, said Madison, had been “drinking heavily all day and became impatient with both children,” then he became upset and finally physically abusive. 

The suspect bit the 3-year-old child on the arm “so hard he left marks, poured hot sauce down her mouth, struck her several times on the back with a hair brush, and,” stated Madison, “threw her against a closet door.  Also, during the incident McElroy “picked up the 8-month-old, became impatient,” and dropped the child in a crib from a distance of approximately 2-3 feet.  

When he picked up the 8-month-old again and the mother, who was sitting on the bed, asked for the child who was sitting on the bed, McElroy “then threw the 8-month-old child approximately 5-feet onto the bed.”  During the incident the mother, according to Madison, “was concerned about her well-being as well as the safety of her unborn child,” and once she had the opportunity to safely leave the residence she contacted police.