There is an interesting criminal and torts case out of Georgia. Roger Stephens, 61, is accused of slapping a 2-year-old child across the face when she would not stop crying. That is bad enough, but the child was not his.
The mother told police that her child was crying in a Stone Mountain Wal-Mart when Stephens, 61, walked up and declared “if you don’t shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you.” When the child continued to cry, the mother said that in a different aisle Stephens grabbed her and slapped the child across the face four or five times. She says that Stephens then told her, See, I told you I would shut her up,.”
A bystander then stepped forward and grabbed Stephens and held him for police. Stephens reportedly apologized to the mother after police arrived, but it still constitutes a classic crime as well as a tort of assault and battery.
He has been charged with felony cruelty to children.
Two observations:
1. I suspect that this gentleman learned how to shut kids based upon the example of his own parents. His visage does not suggest a happy person.
2. He is undoubtedly heterosexual, meaning that he is qualified to adopt in all 50 states.
the guy was completely out of line, but there is huge issues with kids who don’t know boundaries and what they can and cannot do in public. its a bloody shame going to the supermarket and seeing these out of line children, grabbing everything they can, messing aisles up and their parents doing jack shit, and even being offended and pissed off when you confront them about the misbehavior of their children. i worry for future generations, but slapping someone else’s kids is not the way to go. i don’t believe it should be a felony though.. seems kind of severe.
Gyges, I’ll lay this one you since you were the first to respond to my post. Did I say the guy was wrong? Of course I did. I would probably have beat the crap out of him too if he touched my child. Does what he did rise to the level of a felony? No it doesn’t. You know it doesn’t and so does everyone else. If you do think it rises to the level of a felony, maybe you should discuss felonies with the professor. If these were four or five adult style slaps the child would have more than a little redness on the face. What was the mother doing while he child was screaming? We don’t know, but if she was too busy talking on her cell phone to take care of her child, I would recommend dropping the charges to teach the mother that she does have a responsibility, and talking on the phone isn’t it.
How come its always white people in the news treating their own and others kids badly?
I’m shocked by the lack of support for my dog kicking idea.
I sure do hope this POS sits for at least a year in jail. What a creep. How dare him! He should have to compensate by having to work for the rest of his miserable life and provide her college tuition as punitive damages! I hope he rots!
I had 3 kids. They are all grown now. None was ever disciplined. None was ever a shrieky, yelling monster. I talked to my children. I listened when they spoke. it really is that simple, folks.
Anon Yours, there is no need to slap a kid for doing what kids do. A hand on each arm and a “Whoa partner, that’s a fast fall” is all that is needed as you help the kid sit down. Slapping is a very, very bad way to teach a kid about the dangers of the world. These are highly trainable little people who want to please us – but not after we slap them into submission.
People… a completely stranger slapped someone else’s kid IN THE FACE 4 or 5 times. I don’t care how spoiled the kid is… if a stranger slapped my kid in the face… he wouldn’t live to tell about it.
I kicked a kid once because he wouldn’t shut the hell up in a store, and I was trying to talk on my cell phone. He cried out in pain and ran away shrieking. When his mother came to confront me, I just denied everything and got upset at her for even suggesting I would do such a thing. Then I looked at the kid and gave him an evil grin.
Kids are spoiled brats these days. They need to learn DISCIPLINE. Giving a kid a “TIME OUT” isn’t going to teach him anything. It’s stupid. Whatever happened to the good old days when kids behaved themselves in public and parents were RESPONSIBLE for their kids’ behavior?
No, I never really kicked a kid. And yes, this guy was totally out of line for slapping someone else’s 2 year old – but I’m telling you, so many kids (older than 2 obviously) are way out of control and the parents don’t do a damned thing about it. Then the kids become teenagers who feel entitled to everything and don’t understand boundaries. Is THIS the next generation? Buncha selfish whiners who expect everyone to be at their beck and call? Not only do the kids piss people off, but their parents piss people off too, so it’s no wonder that someone like this guy did what he did. Although – why didn’t he just go somewhere else in the store if he was so bothered by crying? It’s a big store!
His fifteen minutes,The inmates will have “FUN”with this guy.
A sweet, gentle,and kindly visage if ever I have seen one. Were he my client, he’d grow a beard.
The largest disagreement that my wife (the mother of 2 of my children)had was when I slapped my daughter on the ass for standing up in the shopping cart (seat) Emergency Departments get such cases where children hurt themselves. She was worried because of the “potential perceived abuse”. I told her that if more parents took responsibility for the actions of there children that the criminal court would not be so full of children not knowing how to act in public.
Now if someone has slapped my child, they had better find a hole to die in. I’d beat the shit out of that clown so hard that he’d wished that he’d never been born. That is wrong, now should it be a felony? I do not know, misdemeanor? maybe but deferred.
With the economy the way it is and people are already edgy, the mother should have been paying attention to her child. Was the child in a aisle where the mother could not see her? This is not clear from the post. If so, I’d be worried about my child being stolen.
Is it just me or does he look like a baby slapper?
I laugh when I think about whether or not it would have been my wife and child and I guarantee you she would have had him in the floor beating the snot out of him.
Buddah:
Although I haven’t seen this yet,I remeber you were talking about the movie,I came across this:
Alien Nation
District 9, the new blockbuster film, was inspired by a very real South African disaster, District Six.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/213805
On a more paternal note, I’ll have to agree with Byron on that one. A stranger striking my child would have a lot more to be concerned about than his impending arrest. Like internal bleeding. Don’t mess with a man’s kids or his dog and not expect a throw down. This is a law that transcends all written law going as far back as Hammurabi. If you doubt this, here’s a cinematic lesson for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJUbz_Z35JY
Ol’ Roger better be glad Dad wasn’t around.
fms:
it wasnt even his child, I dont know about you but if someone that I did not know slapped my child 3 or 4 times, I would be all over them like a pit bull on a toddler (apologies to pit bulls, it is a favorite expression of my sister).
I am not a lawyer but I think assault is warrented.
Kinda acts like a troll as in Troll Classic℠ mode. Well . . . to his credit he did stop short of eating the child, but nonetheless. I am uncertain if he consumed any unwary nearby billygoats based on the facts as presented, but I suspect any capra aegagrus within arms length would have been in mortal danger.
Kinda looks like a troll too if you are going by the grumpy/under the bridge model. I’m betting that’s not just his mugshot face either. Slap some horns and make his complexion slightly more green-gray, no need to photoshop much more than that and you get the whole effect. Maybe trollism is a recessive trait. (We should be so lucky.)
Trolls, much like their distant peaceful and playful cousin the sasquatch, are rarely seen in nature preferring a life in the shadows. I tell people about them all the time, but people think they are an urban myth.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
Coincidence or proof of troll life?
Cryptozoologists want to know.
Someone please slap fms.
FMS,
Right, because children should be punished for their parents’ behavior. That makes perfect sense.
I also think that I should have the right to kick anybody’s dog if I see them spitting their gum on the sidewalk.
Wrong -yes. Felony -No. If the mother was busy talking on her cell phone -Drop the charges.