Man accused of hitting teen son in head with shovel

Aaron Clark Buchanan (Credit: Paulding County Sheriff's Office)

Aaron Clark Buchanan (Credit: Paulding County Sheriff's Office)

A Paulding County man was arrested Thursday after authorities said he hit his 15-year-old son in the head with a shovel and critically injured him.

The assault happened after Aaron Clark Buchanan got into an argument with his son in the Sheffield Farms subdivision, which is across from Taylor Farm Park in Powder Springs, Paulding sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ashley Henson said Friday.

Buchanan fled the scene, and a Good Samaritan took the teen to a nearby fire station, Henson said. Deputies responded to the fire station just before 5:30 p.m. Emergency workers began treating the boy, who was later taken to an Atlanta area hospital.

“As of now,” Henson said, “we do not have an update on his status but can confirm that he is still in the hospital.”

Buchanan, 52, was found in Cobb County, where he was arrested without incident, Henson said.

He is being held without bond in the Paulding County Detention Center on felony charges of cruelty to children and aggravated assault.