Man assaults toddler after boy refuses to give him a good night kiss, Texas cops say

A Texas man became “aggressive” with a 1-year-old boy and assaulted him inside a Killeen home after the child refused to kiss him good night, police say.

Officers with the Killeen Police Department responded to a home on the city’s north side on Feb. 25 “in response to a violent domestic report,” a detective said in an arrest affidavit.

The toddler’s mother told police her husband “became upset” with the boy when he “refused to give him a good night kiss,” according to the affidavit.

McClatchy News is not sharing the 41-year-old man’s name to protect the identity of the victim.

Angry, her husband “instantly” started hitting the child, “slapping (him) on the cheek, back and buttocks,” the document read. He then dragged him through the home and into a bedroom, grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him onto a bed, pinning him down and being “extra rough” with him, the boy’s mother told police.

The boy tried to get away from him, attempted to flee to his mother for safety, but the husband wouldn’t let the child go to her, documents said.

The toddler suffered visible injuries from the abuse, police said, and the mother is pressing charges against her husband.

He’s charged with injury to a child, records show.

He was booked into the Bell County Jail and his bond was set at $82,500, KWKT reported.

Killeen is a roughly 70-mile drive north from Austin.

This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Man assaults toddler after boy refuses to give him a good night kiss, Texas cops say."