MARGATE — A city man was charged with aggravated assault Wednesday after officials said he beat his father, former professional baseball player Bobby Woods, in the head, neck and hands with a golf club.
Robert T. Woods Jr., 45, also is charged with endangering and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Police deferred comment to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Officers responded Tuesday to a home in the first block of Bayside Court, where both the father and the son live, for a report of an injured man, according to the affidavit. When they arrived, they found 70-year-old Robert Woods Sr. lying on his bed and bleeding from his head, neck and hands.
Woods Sr. was taken to the hospital to be treated for a fractured skull, bruising to the back, abrasions to the head and back and lacerations to the head, neck and hands, according to the document.
Officers spoke to the 911 caller, who said she found Woods Sr. lying on the bed and called police, according to the affidavit. Police found a blood-stained golf club in the hallway outside the bedroom, as well as a pair of bloody pants on the kitchen floor.
The 911 caller told police she told Woods Jr. a package would be arriving at the home that day, and he responded that he would be there, according to the affidavit. However, when she got there, Woods Jr. wasn’t and she found his father and the bloody pants, telling police they belonged to Woods Jr.
The neighborhood, made up of a mix of year-round and summer residents, was quiet Thursday morning. Neighbors said they heard sirens and saw police, fire and emergency medical vehicles but didn’t know the details of the incident.
Woods Sr. grew up in the city, played shortstop and third base for the Chicago Cubs organization before returning to the area in the mid-1970s for coaching and clinics. The father and son filmed an instructional DVD together, “Mom Can you Teach Me How to Hit?” filmed in New York’s Central Park. He also was a gym teacher in the Egg Harbor Township school district and ran a youth baseball camp.
Woods Jr. is in the Atlantic County jail. A detention hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday before Judge Donna M. Taylor in Atlantic County Superior Court.