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ESCANABA -- The trial is underway in Delta County Circuit Court for a 23-year-old Gladstone man accused of beating his girlfriend's 4-year old son last fall while she was away at work.

Allen Joseph Brunette is charged with child abuse in the first degree.

Four witnesses were called to the stand Tuesday.

Deputy Brian Lauscher of the Delta County Sheriff Department said police knocked on the door for half an hour before Brunette came out.

“As I pounded on the door,” says Lauscher, “I saw him come to the front. He opened the door and I grabbed him and placed him under arrest."

According to him, the defendant told him the child was crying. When Brunette asked the child why he was crying, he couldn't answer.

“I asked him, 'Did you hit him?' And that's when he said, ‘I hit him, slapped him, and pulled him up by the neck,’” testified Lauscher.

But defense attorney Trent Stupak questioned the deputy if he found out why Brunette slapped the child.

The answer was 'no.'

Dr. Joseph Jameson of Marquette General first came into contact with the child October 14, 2011. He testified that he remembers the four-year-old being quite bruised.

“And I saw there was a contusion on the left side of the chest,” explains Jameson. “And there was a small superficial abrasion on the left side of the chest."

The third day of the trial starts Wednesday at 8 a.m. with the prosecutor calling more witnesses to take the stand.

Allen Joseph Brunette remains lodged in the Delta County Jail on a $15,000 cash bond.