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SALT LAKE CITY — A West Valley woman faces felony charges after police say she attacked her belligerent son with a metal broom handle.
Irene Pupa, 52, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with three counts of child abuse, a second-degree felony.
On Sept. 22, Pupa "told her son to clean the exterior of the home," according to a Salt Lake County Jail report. But she told police the 14-year-old boy became "disrespectful so she struck him in the head with a stick," charging documents state.
That "stick" turned out to be a metal broom handle, police say. Pupa said she hit the boy once in the head, he fell into a bed of rocks, and then she hit him two more times, according to the charges.
Police on scene noted the boy suffered an open wound to his head, was visibly shaking and his speech became increasingly difficult to understand as he talked, the charges state.
Doctors determined the boy suffered "a skull fracture and a brain bleed which required surgical repair," according to court documents.
A $250,000 warrant was issued Thursday for Pupa's arrest.
