Dad accused of beating, choking kids

A 43-year-old Spokane man who once tried to run over his family has now been charged with two counts of child assault for allegedly choking and beating two of his four children.

Steven Minor Dodge, 3327 E. Upriver Drive, was arrested Wednesday on one count of third-degree assault in connection with his 12-year-old son and one count of fourth-degree assault involving his 13-year-old daughter.

Both charges spring from the evening of Sept. 25, when the children came home and tattled on each other about a quarrel they had on their school bus.

According to court documents, the boy said the bus driver had to separate him and his sister twice and threatened to banish him from the bus.

The boy told police his father called them names and began slapping both of them across the face.

The boy said his lip was split so badly that he spat blood for 10 minutes.

Shortly after that, the boy said, his father discovered he hadn’t taken out the trash that morning and slapped him so hard he fell to the floor in pain. Then, according to the boy, Dodge picked him up and slammed him into a door.

While outside doing his chores, the boy reportedly could hear Dodge slapping his sister while calling her a vulgar name.

Later that evening, according to court documents, Dodge choked the boy until he had trouble breathing.

The girl told police that Dodge also grabbed her by the throat and choked her, telling her she was stupid for getting her brother in trouble on the bus.

Court documents say state Child Protective Services worker Lola Taggart told police she had worked with the family for three years and noticed escalating violence over the past year.

The Sept. 25 incident was the first in which there was physical evidence, Taggart said.

All four children in the household were taken into protective custody.

Dodge was charged with attempted second-degree assault in January 2002 when he accelerated a car toward his four children and his estranged wife, jumping a curb outside the Spokane County Courthouse.

The victims ran back into the courthouse, where the mother had just petitioned for a protection order.

Dodge pleaded guilty to fourth-degree domestic assault in a plea bargain.