Child, 8, Tells Court of Beatings, Confinement Inside Cage by Parents

With remarkable aplomb, an 8-year-old South-Central Los Angeles boy, still recovering from multiple wounds and fractures, testified in court Tuesday about being forced by his father and stepmother to occasionally spend time in a cage and sleep on a piece of cardboard under a car outside.

But it was only after the child, whose head barely reached the top of the lectern in the witness box, was excused that the true horror came out.

A pediatric resident who examined the boy described him as having bone fractures and bruises almost too numerous to count. The child said he was frequently struck--”everywhere”--with a belt, a golf club, an extension cord and a 3-foot-long stick the size of a policeman’s billy club.

Multiple Scars Found

Dr. Kory J. Zipperstein, a Cedars-Sinai pediatrician who examined the boy, said he found a patient who was strikingly withdrawn and uncommunicative--and with “multiple numbers of scars, abrasions . . . that appeared to be in various stages of healing over large parts of his body.”

The boy’s eyes had been black and blue and swollen almost entirely shut. The child’s first request was for a Coca-Cola, Zipperstein said. X-rays showed that he had numerous bone fractures in the hands, arms and legs, as well as other fractures, at least 2 to 3 weeks old, that already had begun to heal. Both his forearms were fractured.

When he had to sleep under the car, the boy testified, he found a plastic bag to put over his head to protect him from ants. The wire cage to which he said he was often banished was about 5 feet tall and nearly that wide, and it was kept in a back yard shed.

Charged with felony child endangerment are Andrew Ezell Crosby, 34, and Brigettatha Brown, 31, who are common-law husband and wife. They were arrested on Aug. 4 after the boy ran to a next-door neighbor asking if he could live with her for the rest of his life. The neighbor called police.

The boy, who showed no outward appearance of the physical injuries doctors said he suffered, is now in the custody of social workers for the Los Angeles County Department of Child Services. His testimony is to continue today in the Los Angeles Municipal Court preliminary hearing, which is being held to determine if there is sufficient evidence to try Crosby and Brown.

Pointed Parents Out

During his hourlong testimony, the boy looked at Crosby or Brown only once, when he was asked to identify them by Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. John Gilligan, who is prosecuting the case. “Right there,” he said each time, pointing to Crosby first and then Brown.

Two other children lived with Crosby and Brown--her children--and they are now with grandparents.

Initially, the couple posted $13,000 bail each, but that was raised to $75,000 at their Aug. 5 arraignment. They are both in custody.

Under gentle questioning from the lawyers and Municipal Judge Karl W. Jaeger, the boy, with a social worker by his side, also described how his parents sometimes made him run around the yard “until nighttime.”

He said the cage had a door that does not lock but added that he knew better than to leave it without permission. “If I did, I’d get in trouble,” he said softly. He sometimes slept in the cage and occasionally had to eat in the shed, often just bread and water.

His testimony was interrupted late Tuesday afternoon after he seemed to have difficulties answering questions, complaining about stomach pains.

Crosby and Brown sat stoically during much of the boy’s testimony. Brown held in her lap a thin, dog-eared copy of a book titled “The Good News New Testament.”

Los Angeles attorney Charles T. Mathews said his client, Crosby, works for a public agency and has a long and satisfactory employment record. But he refused to be more specific, saying that he is unsure if Crosby’s employers are aware of the criminal charges against him. Mathews said Crosby is on personal leave. Stuart Stahl, Brown’s lawyer, said his client is an employee of Honeywell.