Another candidate for the Hang 'em High Club

What could a 7 year old possibly do that would warrant his being beaten to death with a metal mop handle?

Easley father charged in death of 7-year-old son

Photo from WYFF4.com

Greenvilleonline.com
By Anna Simon
STAFF WRITER

EASLEY -- A 40-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of his 7-year-old son Friday at his home near Easley, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

The boy was found dead at his home in by EMS workers who responded to a 9:30 a.m. call about a child in possible cardiac arrest, said Susann Griffin, spokeswoman for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

James Theodore Dickerson Jr., 40, of 215 W. Church Road, was charged with one count of homicide by child abuse and one count of unlawful neglect of a child, according to arrest warrants.

The deceased child, Jeremy Wade Dickerson, was a first grader at Hunt Meadows Elementary School in Anderson County School District 1, said Anderson Deputy County Coroner Don McCown.

The boy suffered multiple injuries, McCown said, but declined to elaborate, saying the injuries would be documented by an autopsy Saturday.

When paramedics arrived at the mobile home on a country road outside Easley, they found the father on the phone with 911 and attempting CPR on the child who was in the father’s bedroom, McCown said.

The father said he had put the child in his bed because he wasn’t feeling well, McCown said.

According to the warrant the child was beaten with a metal mop handle.

A five-year-old boy, brother of the dead child, also had injuries and was removed from the home and placed in DSS custody, Griffin said.

Only the father and two boys lived in the mobile home, McCown said. The mother, who lives in Liberty, and the father are involved in a “bitter” custody dispute and the father had custody of the two boys, McCown said.

The mother went to see her sons Thursday and wanted to take them to her home for Thanksgiving dinner, but the father wouldn’t let her see them, McCown said. She spoke with the boys on the phone later that night, McCown said.

When the 5-year-old was taken from the home, he was worried about who would care for his cat, a gray tabby named RC, Griffin said. Animal Control was contacted to keep the cat safe, she said.

It wasn’t known Friday evening whether there were any prior indications of abuse, Griffin said.

From a number of academic awards in his room, the 7-year-old appeared to be a gifted, intelligent child, McCown said.

“It’s a very tragic event,” McCown said.