Six-year-old son testifies Glendale Heights dad hit him with gun

“My dad hit me right here with the bottom of his gun. Right here.”

That was the testimony of a 6-year-old boy Tuesday in a DuPage County courtroom, who recounted for prosecutors how his father hit him in the head with the butt of a handgun.

Ryan Rich, 35, of Glendale Heights, is charged with aggravated battery to a child and aggravated battery using a deadly weapon. He's accused of striking his son in the head with a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol on the evening of Jan. 11, 2014.

Prosecutors said the attack occurred in Rich's car, as Rich was talking to the boy about a recent disciplinary issue at the after-school program the boy attended. Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Lindt said Rich was very angry at his son.

“The defendant is mad at (his son), grabs his gun, strikes (the boy) in his head and then he bleeds,” Lindt said. “There was so much blood, he stopped at a gas station to clean him up. Then he took him home and put him to bed.”

The young boy appeared agitated and squirmed on the stand. At one point he hid under the witness stand and had to be coaxed out by a sheriff's deputy. When asked about his father, whom the boy has not seen since the incident, the boy said he did not see his dad in the courtroom and did not know where his dad was.

Authorities became involved the following Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, when the boy's teacher noticed he was scratching his head a lot.

“I told him to stop scratching so much and I looked at his head and saw a big scrape on his head,” testified Nicole Boznos, who taught the boy in the fall of 2013. “(He) told me his dad hit him with the butt of his gun, He said his mom was really mad and that there was a lot of blood. He also told me his dad gave him the gun and told him to shoot him.”

Boznos, then a first-year teacher, said she immediately reported the conversation to her principal, who then contacted police and investigators from the DuPage Children's Advocacy Center.

Lindt said the boy repeated his story to several officers and during a videotaped interview. After his arrest, however, Lindt said Rich changed his version of the events four times.

Rich's attorney Deborah Bedsole questioned the boy about whether he knew the difference between the truth and a lie. He said he did. But she described the boy as an attention-hungry, gun-obsessed boy who tells stories to get the attention of adults. She said the boy was seen bumping hs head while playing several times during the weekend.

She identified Rich as a “caring father” and “even-keeled parent” in a contentious relationship with his “unhappy” wife.

Rich is expected to testify on his own behalf.

“What happened that night is something he will describe for you,” Bedsole said. “What you will not hear is anything about that child being injured.”

The trial continues at 10 a.m. Wednesday in courtroom 4000.