Minneapolis high school teacher accused of beating 1-year-old son

Updated: November 30, 2009 - 9:45 PM

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A Minneapolis high school teacher was charged with assaulting his 1-year-old son after doctors found bruising and fractures -- new and old.

Damien Gabriel Poling, a teacher on special assignment at Roosevelt High School, is charged in Hennepin County with two felony counts of third-degree assault.

The Richfield man, 38, was put on administrative leave with pay pending results of a police investigation, said Stan Alleyne, a spokesman for the Minneapolis public schools.

Poling told a doctor that on Nov. 17 he had poked the infant in the chest with two fingers and squeezed him at least once, according to the criminal complaint.

He said that he had been stressed at work, depressed and sick with the flu, the complaint said, adding that he was frustrated that he had not bonded with the boy, adopted from Colombia in August, and that the boy wouldn't stop crying that day.

However, the doctor told police that the boy had two fractured ribs, which would require a "violent squeeze" that clearly would hurt the child, the complaint said. Doctors also found signs of fractures in both ankles, a bone in a leg that was healing, and callus fracture lines in the ribs, ankles and wrists.

Poling was released Friday from the Hennepin County jail after posting $40,000 bail.

VINCE TUSS