Dad Charged With Child Abuse: Made Teen Drink Until He Passed Out

An Athens, Tennessee, dad has been charged with aggravated child abuse, neglect, a contributing to the delinquency of a minor after forcing his teenage son to drink until he passed out.

MSN reported that Mark Allen Hughes, 35, was arrested Saturday night after witnesses called police to report that Hughes was forcing his 15-year-old son to play a drinking game.

When the officers arrived, they found the boy passed out in the back seat of a car, according to WBIR. Police said the boy had no pulse, and they had to perform CPR on him until an ambulance arrived.

Several people in the home told authorities that the dad made his son play a drinking game with him while watching football on Saturday. The witnesses said the dad was forcing the teen to drink after he caught him drinking.

Some of the witnesses left, but returned later to find the teen passed out on the kitchen floor.

The boy’s dad reportedly began fighting with the others in the house when they tried to take the teen to the hospital, so they placed him in the back seat of the car and called 911.

Hughes was screaming profanity at the witnesses when the police arrived. The boy’s dad was “clearly intoxicated” and “couldn’t keep his balance,” according to officers, who had to restrain him when he tried to attack some of the witnesses.

The teen was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, where he was treated and released. His grandmother says he is doing fine now.

Police Chief Eddie Byrum told reporters, “We are going to prosecute it to the fullest. We’d like to use this as an example where if anybody else is out there and thinks this is how they’re going to govern their children or direct them, we will put a stop to it.”

Authorities are serious about charging people who discipline their children “the old-fashioned way.”

Last year, Arizona dad Kristopher Harvey was sentenced to probation for child abuse after admitting that he forced his 13- and 14-year-old sons to drink three shots of liquor each when he found out they were sneaking alcohol in his absence.

A neighbor called police when the boys were heard screaming in the pool, and Harvey was arrested. He was also accused of throwing the boys in the pool, but claims that they were intoxicated and jumped into the pool themselves.

Teens face a lot of peer pressure, and it seems more underage celebrities are glorifying partying and drinking than ever, as seen in this Inquisitr article. While it’s true parents need to counteract such influences by helping their kids understand the dangers of drinking, do you think this dad went too far? Or did he just teach the boy a lesson he won’t soon forget?

[Photo courtesy of How to Survive College]