Police: Attack cost victim use of hands

A Palm Bay man faces charges after police say he beat a woman with a wooden dowel so severely it left her unable to use her hands, while leaving a small child strapped in a car seat in his vehicle outside.

Larry Parker, 46, is charged with aggravated domestic battery, felony child abuse without great bodily harm, and tampering in a felony, as well as misdemeanor domestic battery.

Police responded about 4:52 p.m. Monday to a residence in West Melbourne, where they made contact with a woman who said Parker had attacked her, reports state.

The victim told police she was with a friend when Parker came inside and began punching and kicking her. She told her friend to call the police, which further angered Parker, police said.

Parker then grabbed a 2-foot-long wooden dowel and began striking her on the arms, hands, head and back, according to reports.

“The victim was unable to write or sign her name on any documents and possibly suffered broken bones in her arms or wrists as a result of this attack,” officers wrote in a report. “(He) struck the woman so hard that the wooden dowel broke in half.”

The woman had welts matching the width of the dowel on her body, police said.

Parker then “dragged the victim by the hair into the bathroom and ordered her to clean herself up to conceal the fresh wounds and blood visible on (her) head and face,” officers wrote.

He fled when police arrived and was later caught at Orange Grove Avenue and South Drive.

Officers said they learned that while Parker was attacking the victim, he left a small child alone, strapped in a car seat in his vehicle in the driveway of the home. The car was left running and unlocked during the attack, which police say lasted between 15 and 30 minutes.

Parker was on probation for a prior offense at the time of the attack, according to reports.