Ethiopian Review

BARTLESVILLE — Two Bartlesville residents were charged Monday with felony child abuse related to a Saturday altercation in which police say a baby was thrown to the ground twice and two children were dumped out of a stroller.

Gene William Lee, 29, and Geneva Stephanie Marie Curtis, 33, were arrested after an investigation. Washington County Special Judge John Gerkin set bail Monday at $25,000 for Lee and $20,000 for Curtis. They remained jailed Monday evening.

The incident began a little before 10 p.m. Saturday, when witnesses saw Lee and his family leaving a motel on Frank Phillips Boulevard.

One of the children ran into the street — one of Bartlesville’s busiest thoroughfares — and reportedly was nearly hit by a van while the parents “showed no concern for the child,” witnesses reportedly told police. Bystanders reportedly shouted to the couple to “watch their kids better.”

Lee responded by removing a baby from a carrier on his chest and throwing the child to the ground and shouting at the witnesses across the street, police records allege. As the baby lay face-down on the ground, Lee advanced on the bystanders, waving his arms and asking what they were going to do about it, an affidavit alleges.

Curtis, meanwhile, was pushing two children in a stroller and reportedly became angry at the bystanders, calling them “hoes” and “sluts,” the affidavit states. Witnesses told police that she pushed the stroller around erratically then dumped the children out onto the ground.

When the witnesses told the couple that they had called 911, the parents grabbed the children and began to run off.

A witness followed Lee behind a store, where Lee threw the child he was carrying into the bushes and turned to the witness, threatening to beat him, the affidavit states.

When Lee saw officers arriving, he reportedly fled again, running in the front door of a home and leaving through the back door. He then ran into another house, where police found him and the child who had been thrown, records show. The baby had a cut on his scalp and several scratches on his body, the affidavit states.

When Curtis spoke with police, she was holding a child who was bleeding from a fresh cut on his head.

One child is 17 months old; the other two are 9-month-old twins, police said.

Witnesses told police that the couple smelled strongly of alcohol. Additionally, officers allegedly found marijuana in Lee’s sock.

Lee has felony convictions in Washington County for drug charges in 2003 and 2004. Curtis has felony convictions in Washington County for 2002 charges of assault and battery on a police officer and domestic abuse.

- By LAURA SUMMERS | Tulsa World