Mother 'punched her 10-year-old son during anger management class'

While meeting with an anger management counsellor, a Kentucky woman was seen punching her 10-year-old son in the face, according to police who later arrested her on an assault charge.

A counsellor spotted Misty Lawson, 30, striking the child last Saturday and contacted child welfare officials. Lawson was arrested by Louisville Metropolitan Police Department officers on a misdemeanor count. The boy, police noted, had a bruise on his cheek and “redness to eye.” As a result of her arrest, Lawson’s children have been removed from her custody and placed in foster care.



An arrest warrant alleges that Lawson hit the child “several times in the face and body area. This incident occurred during [Lawson’s] anger management session and was witnessed by counsellor.” The counsellor took the boy to a police station and reported the incident to Child Protective Services officials. Lawson, who has been released from custody on her own recognizance, is scheduled to appear for arraignment on Tuesday in Jefferson County District Court.

Lawson acknowledges that she “smacked” her son twice in the face after he called her a “bitch.” The boy, she added, has significant behavioural problems and was trying to attack her when she hit him. “They make it sound like I beat my child like an adult,” said Lawson. The incident, Lawson said, occurred in her Louisville home while she was meeting with a counsellor employed by a Kentucky state child services agency.