La Crosse man admits hitting son with extension cord

LA CROSS, — La Crosse police arrested a father who admitted hitting his 12-year-old son with an extension cord.

Terrence L. Patterson, 47, of La Crosse, appeared in La Crosse County court on Monday afternoon. He has been charged with physical abuse of a child- intentionally cause bodily harm.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman was told that her son’s friend had been beaten by an extension cord by Patterson and she saw several red marks on the victim’s back.

The victim told police he got in trouble at school for spitting on a girl and the school contacted his father. When he got home from school Patterson punished him with an extension cord several times to his back. According to the criminal complaint, the father made a comment to the effect that he better not show anybody or he’d be beaten again with the extension cord.

Patterson admitted to police he hit his son with an extension cord and he didn’t know what else to do with his son because grounding him had not worked in the past and taking his cell phone and other privileges away had not been effective. According to the criminal complaint, Patterson said he crossed the line and should never have hit his son with the extension cord and he didn’t realize it was going to hurt him the way that it did. Patterson also told police it was a form of punishment that he had received as a child and he did not see it as a huge issue.

A La Crosse County judge set a $2,500 signature bond for Patterson. His next scheduled court appearance is June 5.