Hatboro Father Accused of Assaulting Infant Out on Bail

A earlier this month will be home for the holidays – although his contact with the 5-month-old boy must be supervised.

Jarrett Tourish, 21, of North York Road in Hatboro, on Wednesday waived his preliminary hearing in District Judge Paul Leo’s court and was freed from the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after his father, Brian Tourish, posted bail. One of the conditions Leo placed on Tourish’s release was that he must reside with his father and visits with his child must be supervised by an adult age 21 or older.

Tourish must also attend anger management and parenting classes stemming from the Nov. 10 incident, in which Tourish is alleged to have thrown the baby down on a crib and struck the infant repeatedly because he would not stop crying.

Tourish’s attorney, Chris Perry, said the child is “doing well” and had no permanent damage stemming from the alleged abuse. Following the incident, the infant’s mother, Tourish’s wife, had noticed bruising on the child and took him for medical treatment, police said. He was admitted to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with injuries consistent with being physically assaulted, police said. The child was released from the hospital several days later.

Perry said the “best interests of the child” are of utmost importance.

“He is remorseful about what happened,” Perry said of his client, who works in a store. “He understands that he does need some assistance dealing with his anger.”

Tourish faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assaut, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person and unsworn falsification to authorities after said he initially lied about - and later confesed to - throwing his baby down on a crib and striking the infant repeatedly because he would not stop crying.

He is scheduled to be formally arraigned on Jan. 4 in the Court of Common Pleas in Norristown.