Father puts his six-week-old child in the freezer to stop her from crying

A Washington father put his six-week-old baby in the freezer to stop her from crying.

Tyler James Deutsch, 25, of Roy, Washington, told sheriff's officers he put his daughter in the 10-degree Fahrenheit freezer on Saturday afternoon "because he was tired and she was crying" — and then fell asleep. He woke as the baby's 22-year-old mother returned home, and was removing the child from the freezer as she walked in.

Doctors believe the baby will survive, but Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist said it was too soon to know the potential complications. The infant's core temperature had fallen to 84 degrees. She also had a broken arm, a broken leg, a head injury, and blisters on her feet. (AP via EMS1)

Deutsch pleaded not guilty to child assault, criminal mistreatment, and interfering with the reporting of domestic violence — he is accused of taking the phone away when the mother tried to call for help. Bail was set at $1 million. (AP via EMS1)

In January 2014, Deutsch pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. (JobsNHire)

It was not the first time a parent had turned a household appliance into a weapon against a crying infant. In 2008, Joshua Mauldin of Texas was convicted of severely burning his 2-month-old daughter in a microwave oven and was sentenced to prison. And in May 2012, surveillance cameras at a New Jersey laundromat caught a father putting his 1-year-old into a washing machine — the machine started and began filling with water before the parents got the door open. That child survived with minor injuries.

Stupid or mentally unstable? Hard to say. Either way, the babies pay the price.