Man Punches Son, 15, Into Seizure & Again Because ‘Someone Answered the Phone Disrespectfully’: Police

Police were dispatched to a home at around 11 a.m. last Tuesday for a report of a disturbance. That disturbance involved a whole lot of yelling and more than one thrown punch — despite what the alleged assailant initially told police.

When police arrived, the homeowner claimed that Matthew A. Proctor, 41, had showed up at her home unexpectedly because, as he put it, “someone had answered the phone disrespectfully.”

He then, per the heavily-redacted probable cause affidavit, demanded that his children come outside. Among them was Proctor’s teenaged son, who reportedly came out and yelled at his father.

According to the affidavit, Proctor responded to this with violence. After his son dropped to the ground and began to suffer a seizure, the father allegedly punched him again before fleeing the scene with the victim’s younger brother.

He was ultimately taken into custody without incident outside his home, per local CBS affiliate KCTV. The 15-year-old was transported to Children’s Mercy Hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

The woman said that it had begun earlier when a phone conversation between Proctor and their shared son became heated, resulting in Proctor’s impromptu visit to her home. Before that, the woman said he had called her and told her he was going to come “get the kids because they were being disrespectful and he didn’t care what [she] had to say about it.” Ultimately, according to the woman, he hung up on her.

She had instructed her children to stay inside with the door locked and went outside to wait for him, the woman told police. The victim’s half-sister told police that she’d heard Proctor on the phone threaten “to beat [victim’s] ‘ass’ when he got there,” per the report.

She claimed that Proctor demanded immediate custody of the children and that their own conversation became heated, per the document, as she’d been planning a trip to Worlds of Fun that day with the kids. The report states that Matthew tried to enter the home, with the woman blocking him, before the teen came out and stood between his parents, shouting at Proctor to “back off.”

When interviewed by police, per court documentation, Proctor told them that the teen struck him first, hitting him in the mouth two times, before Proctor struck back, hitting his son once in the side of the head, as detailed by People. He said he did not stop to check on his son before leaving because “he was being attacked by his oldest daughter.”

He was then informed that his son “had injuries on both sides of his face, his jaw, and he had a concussion,” per the documents. He was also observed by hospital personnel to have “redness/bruising to his chin, jaw, and both sides of his face” as well as “minor swelling” on the left side of his mouth. There were “minor abrasions … with redness” on the left side of his face, as well.

To this Proctor “said he didn’t know how [victim] got injured on the other side of his face because he only hit him one time. He later suggested the injury was from [alleged victim] falling to the ground.”

Investigators, however, discovered Ring Camera footage from a neighbor, as detailed by KCTV, that painted a fuller picture of the physical encounter. As detailed in their reports, video shows a “male who appears similar to [Proctor]” approaching an individual standing on the steps of the porch before the alleged victim steps outside.

Then, once the alleged victim does step outside, the footage continues as the figure who appears to be Proctor “strikes [victim] twice in the side of his head/face,” per the investigation. Then, after the victim “falls to the ground,” the figure that appears to be Proctor “strike him one more time while he’s down.”

Additionally, according to all of the evidence presented to them, the alleged victim “never appeared to hit” Proctor, per the statement.

Interviews with witnesses and other individuals related to the case further brought up previous alleged instances of Proctor being physically violent with the teen. One of the other children present told police Proctor had once “punched the air out of his lungs,” per CrimeOnline.

Proctor was ultimately charged with child abuse, facing a possible sentence of up to seven years in prison, per KCTV. He is being held on a $75,000 bond as police believe he still “poses a threat to the victim,” per their report, with a bond review hearing set for Wednesday morning. His preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for August 27.