Father Faces Charges in Girl’s Beating

A La Canada Flintridge man was charged with felony child abuse after he allegedly beat his daughter with a wooden dowel because her school grades had slipped just below a straight-A average, authorities said this week.

William Hwang, 44, was scheduled to enter a plea Monday in Glendale Municipal Court. But Judge Barbara Lee Burke postponed the arraignment until July 1 after Hwang’s attorney submitted a physician’s statement that Hwang was hospitalized recently and was not well enough to come to court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Pargament said Hwang came home from work May 13, armed with the dowel, after his 17-year-old daughter received a report card with a 3.8 grade-point average, instead of the 4.0 or straight-A average he demanded. He was also angry that she had been absent from some classes, the prosecutor said.

Hwang moved furniture out of the way, then administered a severe beating with the dowel, Pargament said. “There wasn’t a place on her body that wasn’t black and blue,” he said.

When the girl, whose name was withheld, did not show up at school the next day, a friend visited, saw the injuries and contacted a child abuse hot line, authorities said.

Sheriff’s Deputy B.C. Youngern, a child-abuse investigator, said county social workers answered the hot line call, then summoned deputies to arrest Hwang. The girl was removed from the home and placed in protective custody, and her father was released on $200,000 bail, authorities said.

Hwang’s attorney, Gregory A. Maccarone, declined to comment on the beating but said he hopes to resolve the case without going to trial. “It seems to be a family problem and should not be in these courts,” he said.