Christopher Nadeau, age 40, of 12 Auburn Street, Apartment 5, Nashua

NASHUA — In speaking with a police detective over the weekend, a relative of Nashua resident Christopher Nadeau said that Nadeau had told her on Friday that he allegedly disciplined a 3-year-old boy by “back-handing him across the room,” in response to the boy having “colored all over a television” in Nadeau’s apartment.

Nadeau, 40, of 12 Auburn St., Apt. 5, “begged” the relative “not to tell anyone because he did not want DCYF to find out,” according to police reports.

But after seeing the boy and noticing his right eye “was extremely swollen,” and became “more red and bruised” over time, she contacted another relative, and after discussing the matter they decided to contact DCYF — the state Division of Children, Youth and Families — and the police to report the boy’s injuries, the reports state.

During the investigation, one of the detectives, upon speaking with the two relatives and with the doctor who treated the boy at a local hospital, contacted Nadeau by phone.

According to the police reports, Nadeau refused to speak with the detective at police headquarters, but over the phone, he allegedly confirmed that the boy “drew all over a television … which made him extremely upset.”

Nadeau told the detective, according to the reports, that he “yelled at” the boy, and allegedly said “look at what you did, you little bastard.”

Nadeau then told the detective that he allegedly “secured” the boy “in a 5-point restraint system connected to a child stroller, in order to punish him.”

But Nadeau “denied hitting” the boy, the reports state. When the detective asked about the bruise to the boy’s eye, Nadeau “stated that he ‘scratched’ his eye when he was putting him in the restraint,” according to the reports.

Investigators subsequently issued a warrant for Nadeau’s arrest, and on Sunday took him into custody without incident at his residence.

He is charged with one count of second-degree assault — domestic violence, a Class B felony.

Nadeau was booked on the charge and jailed overnight pending Monday’s Superior Court arraignment, at which Judge Charles Temple ordered him held on preventive detention, with the option of requesting an evidentiary hearing.

Other bail conditions include he have no contact with the boy and one of the reporting relatives, and abide by the terms of the criminal bail protective order issued over the weekend.

According to court documents and archived police reports, Nadeau’s criminal history includes a conviction on a felony drug-related charge, and an arrest just about a year ago on a felony charge of felon in possession of a dangerous weapon.

In the latter case, Nadeau was a passenger in a vehicle that broke down on Main Street, and when police arrived to assist they discovered Nadeau was allegedly in possession of metallic knuckles, dangerous weapons that Nadeau, as a convicted felon, is prohibited from possessing.

The status of that case wasn’t immediately available.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Newsletter