Men face charges after dunking boy at Cape Henlopen State Park

Two men face charges after police say they dunked a boy at Cape Henlopen State Park and then pushed his mother when she confronted them June 22.

Delaware Natural Resources Police say the men were in the water near the fishing pier at 4:30 p.m. playing Spikeball when a boy, 7, approached them and tried to join the game. When the man said no, police said, the boy splashed one of them, who then splashed him aggressively, and dunked him underwater for several seconds. When the boy came up, police said, he went to his mother and told her about the incident, which some witnesses confirmed. 

Police said the mother saw fresh scratches on her child’s chest, arm and back, and approached one of the men to yell at him. The other man then shoved the mother two times before she backed away and called 911, police said.

Both men were taken into custody and taken to the Rehoboth Beach Police Department where the Natural Resources Police charged them. Phillip Hartana, 22, was charged with third-degree child abuse causing physical injury to a child with intellectual disabilities, third-degree assault, and disorderly conduct. The other man was charged with offensive touching and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors.

Both men were video arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 3, and released on unsecured bond - Hartana on $3,000 and the other on $300.

Editor’s note: The Cape Gazette only publishes names of those charged with felonies.