Man admits assaulting child during domestic incident

NORRISTOWN » A Lansdale man awaits his fate from a judge after he admitted to assaulting a 6-year-old boy during a domestic-related disturbance.

Phillip Wilson McCabe, 51, of the 700 block of Willow Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to misdemeanor charges of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and unlawful restraint in connection with a November 2016 incident at the Willow Street address.

Judge Steven C. Tolliver deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about McCabe, including drug, alcohol and mental health evaluations.

McCabe, who remains in the county jail pending sentencing, faces a possible maximum sentence of six to 12 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.

An investigation began at 7:19 p.m. Nov. 1, 2016, when Lansdale patrol officers were dispatched to McCabe’s residence for a reported physical domestic assault. Police made contact outside with McCabe’s wife and her two young children and the woman told police that McCabe was drunk and had struck her 6-year-old son in the head and tried to strangle him after an argument had escalated to a physical assault, according to the criminal complaint.

When police spoke to McCabe they observed he had signs of alcohol intoxication, including slurred speech, but he denied he had been drinking, according to the arrest affidavit. McCabe did submit to a preliminary breath test that indicated his blood alcohol concentration was 0.222 percent, according to court documents.

As part of the investigation, authorities spoke to both children at the Mission Kids child advocacy center, during which they reported that McCabe had been drinking all day on Nov. 1 and came out of a bedroom in the afternoon demanding his wife drive him to get more alcohol, according to the criminal complaint. When the woman refused, an argument ensued, police alleged.

McCabe tightened his hand into a fist and was about to strike his wife when the 6-year-old boy intervened to draw McCabe’s attention away from his mother, police alleged. McCabe then chased the boy and when he caught up to the boy, knocked him to the ground, struck him in the head numerous times and then began to choke him with both hands to the point where the child could not breathe, according to the arrest affidavit. McCabe’s wife and her other child saw McCabe choking the boy and his wife hit McCabe in the back repeatedly until he stopped assaulting the child, police said. The woman then took her children with her and fled the area in her car before calling police, the criminal complaint alleged.

One of the children expressed to investigators a feeling of being “unsafe at home,” court documents indicate.

Other charges of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children will be dismissed against McCabe at time of sentencing in exchange for his guilty plea to simple assault and reckless endangerment.