Christine Elizabeth Garrett, a 55-year-old physician who runs her own practice in Palm Coast with her husband, was arrested on Sunday (Feb. 2) on a felony charge of child abuse when her adopted son called 911.
The boy was locked in the bathroom when Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies arrived. When he heard then saw law enforcement officers, “he exited the bathroom crying and ran, grabbing onto Deputy Bishop, saying he needed help,” according to the sheriff’s report. The boy, referred to as JG in the report, said he was playing a video game when his mother asked him to clean up his mess. The boy told deputies that “whenever he does not do something he is asked right away his mother hits him.”
In that instance, his mother started yelling at him while holding a trash can and telling him to clean up his food, according to the report. She then allegedly “struck him in the head with the trash can, causing him to fall forward hitting the right side of his face and eye on the computer desk,” the report states. “JG states she then punched him multiple times with a closed fist in the head and chest. JG said his mother then grabbed the computer chair, pulling it out from under him, causing him to fall onto the floor, hitting the back of his head on the wood flooring.”
When his mother allegedly started yelling at his older sister, the boy went to the bathroom, locked the door, and started feeling dizzy as his head hurt. He called 911, he told deputies, because he feared his mother would start hurting his sister. He would later tell paramedics, who also reported to the scene and tended to him, that he felt as if he was going to pass out. He was taken to AdventHealth Palm Coast.
The boy’s sister mostly corroborated her brother’s account. She told deputies that she first heard her mother and brother fighting, then saw her mother hit her brother with the trash can, saw him fall, and saw her mother clap him with an open hand on the head and body, according to the report. The boy’s sister said she then saw her mother forcefully pulling the chair from under her brother, causing him to hit the floor and hit his head. When she yelled for her mother to stop, her mother “turned around and began to yell” at her, allowing the boy to run off.
Garrett told deputies she had asked her son to clean up some wrappers on the floor by his computer. That led to an argument. She “stated she intentionally struck JG with a plastic trash can over the head,” the report states, but nothing else occurred other than him running off and calling 911.
Deputies noticed slight swelling on the right side of the boy’s face and “multiple bruises on his legs and chest.” The swelling on his face got progressively more pronounced as the deputy made contact with the boy at the hospital, where his mother later arrived. The boy’s father, was out of the country, but when deputies reached him, he said his mother, who lives in Ormond Beach, would take custody of the children.
Christine Garrett was placed under arrest for child abuse without great bodily harm, a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted, though such first offenses almost never result in incarceration but probation, even if the charge is not pled down.
Garrett, a physician at Garrett Internal Medicine on Leanni Way, was booked at the Flagler County jail on $5,000 bond, which she posted. County Judge Andrea Totten imposed a no-contact order on Garrett, regarding both her children, pending the disposition of the case or an amendment to the order. The order extends to texts or indirect communication relayed through a third party.
Garrett was allowed to return to the house only under a deputy’s supervision. Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis is prosecuting the case. Her arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 25.
The Sheriff’s Office informed the Department of Children and Families of the incident.
Atwp says
Hitting a child with a trash can isn’t good. Children should listen to their parents. He was smart enough to call 911, why not clean up your mess. Am glad my children are grown and gone, love them dearly. Love when they visit love when they leave. I love to visit them I love to come back home. Children should try and do what their parents ask them to do. All he had to do was clean up the mess I think he made. She could have used another form of punishment, take the game away for awhile. Just my 2 cents.
Pat Stote says
After writing my comment I googled her and her husband and they are affiliated with Advent Health and I read many positive reviews.
Not sure what to think. I “love” all my doctors but never write reviews, however do recommend then.
Whatever, she still sounds like a horrible mother v
Florida Girl says
I don’t think another family member is the answer for those babes. This does not sound like a new behavior with mom. So, I’m prone to think it’s acceptable behavior with dear ole dad too. AND both parents probably got this parenting style from THEIR own parents parenting them! Who knows what kind of guilt the grands will lay on those babes for this whole situation the entire family is in now because the boy finally told his truths! I don’t understand why DCF was not on site with these children to defend and protect them from jump! Instead, they shuffle them off to the grands. What a load of crap.
Ill certainly be praying for them because I have no faith in the State or DCF doing the right thing for those children.
Hopefully this outstanding member to society is charged to the fullest extent of the law, instead of pleading out under the covers to some deal the State offers AND she packs it up and move!
Eleanor smith says
Went once to office and nerved went back. I found them both strange
Raquel says
I Have to say her Husband Dr. P Garrett is an outstanding PC. Yes very quirky but very intelligent. We all need to wait for all of the facts to come out. I want to know how old is this boy, because age does matter. I am by no means a perfect mother. Trust me my 3 kids when they were younger especially adolescent made me crazy. I’m sure if anyone had come into my home in the middle of us arguing and me loosing my cool would not have thought I loved them, but I did and do. They are very kind people today. I’m sorry for anyone who now has their whole horrible family incident on social media.
Willy Boy says
I worked for several years as a Child Abuse Investigator for the Florida Division of Children and Family Services. This case highlights the fact that there are no social or economic boundaries that prevent child abuse!
Discipline says
Sounds like discipline not abuse. Sounds like the kid finally got what he needed. Maybe next time an adult tells him to do something as simple as cleaning up after himself he will listen. Valuable lesson that more parents should adopt. Maybe we would not have such a disrespectful and entitled generation. Cue all the comments on how horrible it is…yet my children were always respectful and are now successful adults who do not think the world owes them anything.
Florida Girl says
@ADWT
The root word of discipline is “disciple,” I think it implies to lead by teaching, not by beating. This is not discipline. This is abuse. You don’t collect things along the way to assist you in hitting your child, like never. Corporal punishment is still alive and well in the United States, but not to the point you beat your child to bruising and swelling. AND furthermore, abuse doesn’t come in levels of mild, moderate or severe, does it…? I imagine much like shit. Shit is shit – it doesn’t come in levels – it’s all shit. THIS is shit! Complete and utter BS. She should have led by example and helped him along – taught him – but clearly that is not her parenting style, now, is it?
You know, those days of when you can slap your wife and shoot your dog are LONG gone, friend. You say, “smart enough to call 911” and I see desperate enough to call 911. I think he knew his parents had weight and image and he did not care, he (they) needed help.
If I came up on that woman out there on the streets and she looked at me like she is looking at the person taking her mug shot, I would take that as a sign of aggression and prepare myself for what might come next because she looks frightening! I mean really look at that picture and imagine being six years old up against that. Horrifying I would think. He had to be terrified.
Hope says
This family needs help, not public criticism about our doctors or anybody’s horrible parenting on Facebook. I wonder how each throwing out negative comments here would stand up under their own judgment and flogging, or an arrest?
Everybody doesn’t have to be criticized. A little community support might be nice.
There is a reason behind all this and I hope they find it and deal with it. Imagine what kind of picture you would take if being booked for the first time by the police. Imagine how utterly humiliating that is. People are way too quick to judge.
Just my 4 cents.
Not braindead says
The amount of comments defending the mother is nuts, but explains in part why child abuse remains endemic. “The only moral child abuse is the child abuse I agree with.”
Stop having children if you think there’s any plausible defense for hitting a kid with a trash can and leaving them covered in lesions.