Man charged with beating stepdaughter

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- A New Haven man has been arrested on charges he regularly beat his stepdaughter.

Craig Tracy Williams, 45, was arrested after police found a 9-year-old runaway girl in Edgewood Park around 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

When New Haven Police arrived at 320 Edgewood Avenue, they were there to assist with a missing nine-year-old girl, who had been gone about an hour.

Yet, when the girls step-father arrived at the house, he told the officer, "she needs to learn to take her (expletive) punishment. We are not the type of parent to touch our kids. She doesn't (expletive) listen. There is something wrong with her, she needs a psychiatrist!"

In the police report, the officer wrote that he found the statement odd, but began his search. A short-time later, dispatch called the officer and said a couple was walking their dog in Edgewood Park and noticed a girl following them. They noticed the girl appeared to have been physically assaulted, with a bruised face, a cut on her forehead, and scars all over her body.

When the officer talked with the child, she said, "Craig Williams has been punching her for years."

After that, the report becomes graphic with vivid descriptions of what, allegedly, has happened to the child. She tells police she's been disciplined with the following punishments:

• Getting punched in the lip.
•  Getting handcuffed by her wrists and ankles to a radiator.
• Getting bitten.
• Getting hit with a baseball bat, a large black flashlight, and a leather belt.
• Getting slammed to the ground, breaking her hip.

Police took pictures of the girl and sent her to Yale-New Haven Hospital. A warrant was secured for Williams, but he wasn't at his apartment. A cell phone "ping" would lead police to Forbes Avenue.

Although the family initially called police to get help looking for the child, according to the arrest report, they would later run from police.

Craig was arrested at a New Haven gas station. It looked like he was trying to fill up his van, then take off down the highway, knowing, that he was in trouble.

The child is now in the care of DCF, and Williams is being held in lieu of a $500,000 bond.