A Georgia father has been arrested for making his teenage son carry a 23-pound landscape stone for miles as a military-style punishment, WXIA-TV reported.
Veteran Charlie Mayes, 40, is accused of making his 16-year-old son carry the landscaping stone for three miles at a time. The military father was arrested and charged with first-degree child cruelty on Tuesday.
Mayes told Douglassville police he made his son carry the stone as punishment for not doing his chores and schoolwork because he was watching too many videos. The 4-foot-2-inch tall teenager had to carry the paving stone for three miles from King's Highway to his home in the Fairways subdivision.
"This was done multiple times over a three-day period, sometimes as early as 3 o'clock in the morning," Police Sergeant Todd Garner told the station.
"In between that time, he was at home having to move rocks and stuff from one side of the back yard to the other and then being taken right back out to the same location and dropped off and made to walk back again," Garner said.
Police were altered to the boy's punishment by a driver delivering pizzas who saw him.
"He was sweating, dirty and was obviously tired," the driver, Joshua Burnette, told the Douglas County Sentinel. "He asked if I could give him a ride so I checked with my boss and he said it was OK. He picked up this massive brick and asked if he could put it in the truck."
The boy is also seen hauling the stone on a police car's dash camera during a separate traffic stop, the station reported.
A judge ordered Garner receive family counseling after he was released on $3,500 bond. Police alerted child protective services about the incident.
Garner reportedly did not find anything wrong with making his son carry the massive brick.
"He did not feel that this was inappropriate at all and neither did his wife," Garner told WXIA-TV.
