Baby severely stabbed by father after police chase in Kansas City suburbs: court records
Two face felony charges, including assault and child endangerment, after an 18-month-old baby boy was allegedly stabbed by his father following a police pursuit through suburban Kansas City.
Anthony N. Beighley-Beck, 24, and Tabitha S. Ong, 32, both of Kansas City, were arrested Monday by Blue Springs police after a pursuit that began when they allegedly fled a traffic stop.
Ong is charged with child endangerment and fleeing arrest. Beighley-Beck faces charges of first-degree assault or attempted murder and armed criminal action.
According to court records, a Blue Springs police officer was dispatched around 5:30 a.m. Monday to the intersection of 7 Highway and U.S. 40 Highway in response to a traffic collision. As the officer arrived on scene, a Chevy Cobalt with Missouri license plates that was believed to have caused the accident fled north.
The officer stopped the car and saw Ong in the driver’s seat and Beighley-Beck in the passenger seat, pantsless, with a baby sitting on his lap. When asked to provide identification, Ong allegedly said “Give me a second” and put the car in drive before fleeing.
Police chased after the vehicle through Blue Springs. It had a flat tire as Ong allegedly wove through traffic and blew a red light before eventually coming to a stop near the I-70 overpass and N.W. Shaw Parkway.
Guns drawn, police officers took both Ong and Beighley-Beck into custody from the vehicle. An officer noticed then that a baby boy was “crying hysterically” as emergency medical personnel were responding to the scene, according to court records.
Paramedics found a large open wound on the baby’s abdomen. He was taken by ambulance to Children’s Mercy Hospital and underwent emergency surgery before being transferred to the intensive care unit.
Doctors at Children’s Mercy reported to police that the baby’s wound was a “clean cut” that could not have happened during an auto crash. The wound exposed the boy’s liver and intestines, according to court papers.
Ong and Beighley-Beck were taken to the Blue Springs jail after they were arrested. Ong declined to speak to detectives without a lawyer present, but Beighley-Beck allegedly agreed to a police interview.
During the interview, Beighley-Beck allegedly admitted that he stabbed the child with a large kitchen knife. He told detectives he wanted to kill his son because he was afraid of other relatives getting custody and abusing him.
Beighley-Beck also told investigators he considered using the knife on a police officer but refrained when he noticed guns were drawn, saying he “did not want to get shot.” He also told police he had been thinking about killing the boy “for some time,” a detective wrote in charging documents.
Police were granted a search warrant for the vehicle that Ong and Beighley-Beck were in. Inside investigators reported finding a kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade that was covered with apparent blood.
The knife was discovered between the passenger seat and the center console, where Beighley-Beck allegedly told detectives that he placed it after the stabbing. Two other knives were also found in the car.
Ong and Beighley-Beck are being held in the Jackson County Detention Center. Ong’s bond is set at $50,000. Beighley-Beck’s is set at $250,000 cash only.
Court records do not detail the relationship between Ong and Beighley-Beck. But both are listed as living at the same address in Kansas City.
