February 14, 2012 in News, City

Spokane man accused of beating infant

A 25-year-old man is accused of beating his infant daughter, who was taken to a medical clinic with broken bones and other injuries.

Tyson Joseph Romaneschi told police his daughter, Ellyana, would go to sleep faster if she had been crying, so he sometimes would squeeze her up against his chest, according to court documents used to support an assault charge against him.

Romaneshci remains in jail on $30,000 bond after appearing in Spokane County Superior Court Monday on a charge of first-degree assault of a child.

Detectives began investigating Romaneschi Feb. 3 when his girlfriend, Shayna Tipton, 21, brought Ellyana, who turned two months old Monday, to a local urgent care clinic. Tipton said the child had a fever and needed medical attention, according to police.

However, doctors discovered multiple fractures in various stages of healing they said were consistent with abuse.

“The child’s mother was determined by detectives not to be a suspect,” Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, spokeswoman for the Spokane Police Department, said in a news release.

Tipton, 21, told police she was concerned that Romaneschi was being too rough with the girl. She said she awoke recently to Ellyana crying louder than normal and had to take her away from Romaneschi and ask him what he was doing. She said Romaneschi told her that Ellyana seemed to fall asleep faster if she cried, “so he would hug her hard to get her to cry,” according to court documents. Tipton told police Romaneschi was also “very rough with her.”

Romaneschi told police the same thing in an interview Feb. 7. He said he didn’t intentionally hurt his child but said he needs parenting classes because he has frustration problems. Detectives noted that Romaneschi grew angry during the interview “and that we had to calm him down several times.”

Romaneschi told police that he gets frustrated easily and that “it’s my personality,” according to court documents.

Officer Dan Cole arrested located Romaneschi Monday during a routine traffic stop near Wellesley Avenue and Mayfair Street, DeRuwe said.

Romaneschi’s daughter remains in protective custody.

31 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

BlondeSquawker on February 14 at 11:55 a.m.
Ognir again.
brianrbreen on February 14 at 11:55 a.m.
Please don’t be dumb and eliminate the mother!
brianrbreen on February 14 at 12:13 p.m.
There is a reason for this:
9A.32.055
Homicide by abuse.
(1) A person is guilty of homicide by abuse if, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life, the person causes the death of a child or person under sixteen years of age, a developmentally disabled person, or a dependent adult, and the person has previously engaged in a pattern or practice of assault or torture of said child, person under sixteen years of age, developmentally disabled person, or dependent person.
(2) As used in this section, “dependent adult” means a person who, because of physical or mental disability, or because of extreme advanced age, is dependent upon another person to provide the basic necessities of life.
(3) Homicide by abuse is a class A felony.
[1987 c 187 § 1.]
brianrbreen on February 14 at 12:51 p.m.
“ The investigation is continuing, we have a lot of work to do including dating the fractures and trying to determine who was present when they occurred and what the circumstances were surrounding the fractures”
“We are involved with the investigation of a very young child’s death one of the hardest things for police officers to deal with, let alone the family so we think it is important at this point to allow the investigation to go forward without discussing the details of the investigation”
Oh my gosh Mayor, take Tim Burn’s advice send her back to patrol, and for crying out loud realize how you will get bombed if you don’t.
BTW; The ploy thing won’t work.
generallyspeaking on February 14 at 12:56 p.m.
Did Brian just threaten to bomb the Ombudsman???!!! Might want to choose your words more carefully if thats NOT what you meant….just an observation….
The_Seer on February 14 at 1:14 p.m.
GS: Nope. I think BB just wants DeRuwe out of the PR biz and back on patrol where she can best interact with her adoring public.
Just ask Loudin.
brianrbreen on February 14 at 1:22 p.m.
@michaelm
Trust me, I’ve been tested time and again, I’ll pass this one with flying colors.
leahad on February 14 at 1:25 p.m.
These “parents” need to both go to jail. There is no way in hell that the mother didn’t know there wasn’t something wrong with her baby!!!!! The dad needs to be shot…AFTER all his bones are broken and left for 2 mos untreated. There is no reason on this earth that would cause a 2 mos old baby to deserve broken bones, (or death) by anyone, especially their own parents. I can only imagine the pain that the baby has been in. Why are there so many parents abusing their children?!?
silverlake89 on February 14 at 1:26 p.m.
I really hate it when women skate on child abuse because they didn’t actually do the beating. If you had an abuser in your home, knew or should have known that your child was being abused, or in any other way facilitated you should be going to jail too.
You know this mother is just going to move on to the next creep who will knock her kid around too.
Loudin on February 14 at 1:42 p.m.
I can only speak for myself here, but there is not a finer sight on this earth than that of Officer Badonkadonk in her SWAT outfit, bending over to pick up a stray nickel.
<makes “homer”=”” gurgling=”“ noise=”“>
Seriously: She’s got it goin’ like a turbo ‘Vette…
Loudin
brianrbreen on February 14 at 1:42 p.m.
@michaelm…and others.
I do have to apologize, for the amount of time you have to spend monitoring; I will accept some responsibility for that… you know like sucking someone in …that kind of stuff. But by the same token I think it is important because of all of your positions, and the fact that it is important to maintain digital flexibility. Deleting can aid in developing the flexibility necessary to prevent arthritis. I would however suggest walking if possible as much as you can to keep the legs moving and maintain some flexibility in your legs.
The_Seer on February 14 at 2:02 p.m.
Loudin: I asked and I’m kinda sorry that I did…. :)
brianrbreen on February 14 at 2:06 p.m.
@leahad
Tougher than crap cases that need to be worked hard. If you have the time go back and look at the Vanessa Behan case, and what happened there. The most important thing is that the prosecutor is on board and realizes that even though the big ugly guy might be the easy conviction, there is one hell of a lot more to the story.
I don’t know what the intent of this press release was, but any investigator worth his/her salt would be face/face with whomever released it, or authorized the release, telling them just exactly how friggin stupid they are.
generallyspeaking on February 14 at 2:08 p.m.
YES……mission accomplished!!
Itsgodswill on February 14 at 2:11 p.m.
I went to high school with this guy. He was a loser then and is obviously a loser now.
Loudin on February 14 at 2:12 p.m.
I don’t know why it is I have a thang for women who remind me of Rerun from “What’s Happening!”
I mean, if you replace Fred Berry w/Mindy Cohn, but keep Berry’s wardrobe, then heaven becomes a place on earth.
Loudin
brianrbreen on February 14 at 2:13 p.m.
To put things in perspective…it is really sucky!
brianrbreen on February 14 at 2:20 p.m.
It has never been so easy! :)
nslopeofw on February 14 at 3:21 p.m.
Slow death for all child abusers. Public skinning.
Allow the public to do “justice” to crap like this guy. (and his wife needs to be sterilized, as she didnt do anything to stop this, and has given up the right to raise children)
I dont want to hear from all the people who justify this woman by her being scared, cause she could have gotten herself and her child away if she really cared. She is guilty as well, by this guy needs to die.
generallyspeaking on February 14 at 3:36 p.m.
Took the words RIGHT out of my mouth….
SpokaneIsFun on February 14 at 3:50 p.m.
$30,000 bond? System is a joke. Where are the grandparents? Sane responsible relatives would get this POS and beat him so he will never forget. Both parents should have photos in the news so all in Spokane and shun them.
lewis8457 on February 14 at 4:56 p.m.
kids having kids, it is shameful what a person will do to a child. The child goes to sleep faster if she cries? Holy cow what kind of mentality is that?
jddavis on February 14 at 5:14 p.m.
What the HELL is going on with abuse of children? Sickening…
logs2haul on February 14 at 6:36 p.m.
Nslopeofw, you couldn’t have said it better!
JanB on February 14 at 9:17 p.m.
Guess what folks. We used to have a program called First Steps and public health nurses used to see a lot of these high risk families and when seeing the red flags (low tolerance for frustration, substance abuse, mental health issues, history of childhood abuse) we used to be able to a) do prevention work with families and b) refer to child protection for help if the risk warranted it. Those programs have pretty much been eliminated and now we are seeing lots more of these tragedies. Most of the shaken babies that end up at SHMC aren’t even making it into the news. Very sad -but what is sadder is that we as a community don’t care enough to spend a little money to help prevent this abuse. A lot of these young families actually welcome the nurse and want education and help. I have driven moms and babies to Vanessa Behan and the DV shelter to get them out of potentially devastating situations.
PROFINTOX on February 14 at 11:51 p.m.
nslope — couldn’t agree more. And I really hear ya regarding the woman. I have no problem with a woman being scared of what such a man might do, but life does not come risk-free. When you have a child you have a duty to that child and that simply must override doing nothing because of the fear of retaliation from the abuser.
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 15 at 8:35 a.m.
nslopeofw on February 14 at 3:21 p.m.
I couldn’t agree more!
brianrbreen on February 15 at 10:18 a.m.
You just cannot eliminate the mother. As hard as it may be for some people to realize that even a mother can do terrible things to her child, it does happen. Great care has to be taken to make sure that the culpability isn’t limited to one person.
brianrbreen on February 15 at 12:05 p.m.
Even if the mother agreed to take the polygraph, and passed the SPD’s polygraph the biggest thing to understand is that a mother when it comes to the abuse of her children will in most cases pass, or be inconclusive because of the expected and sometimes honestly believed relationship between being a mother and her child.
When the male suspect agrees to come in and provide a statement thinking that he did nothing wrong and has nothing to hide so he will do it, than he is dumb, and you can’t help that.
A radiologist will be able to date the fractures fairly close to when they occurred, not with in hours or days but depending on the age of the child and the healing process. The problem is for the cops is trying to find out who was present mom, or dad or both… who knows. The biggest thing you don’t want to do is come out and say we have eliminated suspects, and try and do a fluff piece because the SPD needs good press.
It is up to you Mayor…get that done and everyone knows it needs to be done.
You actually can do that today… and decide whether or not you really want transparency, and honesty with the SPD, or if it is a matter of allowing the media cycle to run and fluff things up. That is your call. My recommendation…out of there… despite how protective she may be of Stephens… and the department.
mary1958 on February 16 at 9:04 p.m.
Just because the child’s mother is not a suspect now does not mean that after they continue their investigation that she might not become a perpetrator via lack of action or by direct action. I wouldn’t want to defend SPD but I like truth, no matter what, and Ofc DeRuwe’s job is to be the mouth piece for the department and she is not the detective doing the investigation. She is reporting what the detectives are doing while protecting them so that too much info is not revealed.
Mother’s abuse children, mother’s allow abuse to keep from losing their man, mother’s can be guilty as well. But it is also possible for the man involved to have taken the child on an outing and broken a bone or while the mother was at work to have done something to the child. The investigation is not over.
First Steps was a nice program and I certainly enjoyed having a nurse come to my home and look at my baby. But I do not consider myself to be a high risk person. I was on food stamps while in college getting my Masters and that qualified me. I did not use drugs, commit crimes, history of child abuse, etc., so what exactly is HIGH RISK to you, Jan B. Perhaps you lost funds because you were monitoring the wrong people.
JanB on February 21 at 11:41 a.m.
@ Mary - a long time ago the First Steps program did serve a wide range of families - and if you were in college you were probably the delight of your First Steps nurse’s caseload. It was always nice to have a couple of families who functioned pretty well and benefited from the program but perhaps did not NEED the program to the extent that other families did. For the last several years the program was quite limited and served only those families that qualified by virtue of the risk factors that have already been mentioned. Being a food stamp recipient is no longer enough to qualify for the program. The best description of today’s nurse home visiting programs is “social chaos engineer”. Need I say more?