Michigan Man Accused Of Waterboarding Five-Year-Old Over Ripped Backpack

A Michigan man has been arrested on charges of waterboarding his girlfriend’s five-year-old son, WEYI (Flint) is reporting.

30-year-old Michael A. Porter, of Flint, allegedly used the torture technique — reportedly used on prisoners at Guantanamo — because the boy ripped his backpack at school.

Mount Morris Police Chief Keith Becker tells NBC News that Porter allegedly admitted to waterboarding the boy to investigators. He says he got the idea to use waterboarding as punishment after seeing an unspecified movie. Becker describes what happened.

“[Porter] tied the 5-year-old’s hands up with a belt down by his sides, put a garment over his head down below his nose, laid him on a footstool on his back and poured water over his throat, face and mouth.”

Waterboarding is a controversial form of “enhanced interrogation” that induces panic in the victim by simulating drowning, according to How Stuff Works. The technique, which has been allegedly used against a number of detainees at Guantanamo, is considered torture by human rights groups, including Amnesty International.

“There is a clear definition of torture. There are no grey areas. Waterboarding counts.”

Police also believe Porter abused another boy — his girlfriend’s 12-year-old son — by poking him in the chest and throat with a knife. Both children have been removed from the home.

The waterboarding case came to the attention of police thanks to a diligent schoolteacher, who noticed the five-year-old victim exhibiting signs of child abuse. Tricia Hill, superintendent of the Mount Morris Consolidated Schools, praised the teacher for their role in noticing something was amiss.

“It’s very reassuring that our staff is paying very close attention to children and listening and doing what they know is right.”

Unfortunately, this is not the first case of child abuse involving waterboarding to make the national news. In January 2014, according to this Inquisitr report, a respected doctor and pediatric specialist, Dr. Melvin Morse, was arrested for waterboarding his 11-year-old stepdaughter; the abuse is alleged to have gone on for several years. And in March 2013, another Inquisitr report revealed that a Helena, Montana, man allegedly waterboarded four children, including two neighbors.

Porter has been charged with eight felony counts, including child abuse, imprisonment, assault, and assault with a dangerous weapon, among other charges. He’s currently being held in jail on a $400,000 bond.

[Image courtesy of: Genesee County Sheriff’s Office via NBC News]