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.
And Kid Kicker – get the hell off of the phone while your in the store. Nobody wants to hear your lame conversation. Having to listen to somebody ramble on while on their stupid phone is worse than any baby crying. Grow up. Save the phone call for later, jerk.
Hey Trashy,
I don’t know where you get your facts, but maybe white people are in the news for trouble with their kids simply because they spend their time around their kids. The little white kids know who their fathers and mothers are. they actually know who to give the Father’s Day cards to. There is always someone around to discipline their butts.
I am late to the thread, but wanted to comment on the rights of children generally.
The government cannot give parents or guardians rights to physically assault their children. Children should be able to prosecute parents for any injuries committed, regardless of whether or not it was done under the guise of discipline. The idea that we allow the government through government-mandated schools to beat children in the name of “correction” is particularly deplorable.
Children who do not like how their parents are treating them should have the right to end their guardianship at any age that a court agrees they are capable of becoming independent, or alternately to be taken in by foster parents who could care for them. Children are not property.
Stephens is guilty of assault, as is anyone who strikes a child.
I don’t give a damn what the mother was doing. No one has the right to lay a hand on someone else’s child. That’s the bottom line. Oh, he would have gotten the beat down. Crazy ass.
Im sorry I have old grandparents and they have made comments about kids crying and acting outin public. And they usually get pissed at the older kids acting a fool not the TODDLERS! Usually old people take a different approach with smaller kids. Maybe she was tired, maybe she was hungry, maybe she didnt feel good! Who is this man to take it upon himself to make a crying 2 yr old cry less by slapping her 4-5 times IN THE FACE. Real smart genius! Slap a kid who is already crying! Thats the way to do it you old sluggar!
And all these ppl talking about these kids running around the stores and being disrespectful I bet the kids you are talking about ARE NOT 2YRS OLD! I too have seen some kids act a plum fool and parents not do ANYTHING about it. Some parents dont discipline their kids in public out of fear of “child abuse”! Some parents are just tired and really dont care. Some parents have already addressed it but b/c you didnt see it makes them crappy parents huh! lol
i personally think it was hilarious….lol…i actually can not stop laughing long enough to even think of anything else to write.
Obviously the mother was removing her child from the situation as he is the one who followed them so he could slap the child. 61 year old MAN versus a 2 year old child.. wow big man. The score is now even. If she has an earache, teething, etc., she is going to cry. I would have handled that old man in the respect he deserves- total ass whooping. I am getting tired of all these “seniors” who DEMAND respect but have nearly knocked over my disabled child walking down the aisles as they run for the free samples at Costco.
GLAWMOM:
“the way I see it is this : our kids should have just enough trauma so that when they go into therapy they have something interesting to talk about.”
Now that is the truth!
When it actually takes a village to raise a child, the village idiot must be excluded from participation!
There is no discussion here. This man assaulted a child. I don’t care how much you don’t like ill-behaved children in public, touching another person, much less a minor person, is unjustifable for any reason, save self defense.
The way we qualify the law these days, into our own personal sense of “right” and “wrong,” is really problematic. The law doesn’t mean anything any more for the express reason — because we want it to mean what we want it to mean to US. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Assault is assault, just like torture is torture, to draw parallel to another recent subject of “qualified” law.
TJ:
“Nothing good ever comes out of Wal-Mart..!”
**************
An empty shopping cart?
TJ,
I agree with your statement about Wal-Mart. They are a stain on our society with the way they handle their employees and competition.
Nothing good ever comes out of Wal-Mart..!
What’s with these people who assume a crying child in a public place must have lowlife parents? Did you ever think that some parents have to run by the store to pick up medicine or a prescription for their sick kid after a dr.’s appointment? I know earaches can be a pain in the butt! And who the heck said this lady was talking on a cell phone and that’s why she wouldn’t make her kid be quiet – that’s never been stated and is not a fact. And yes, Dennis slapping in the face is assault – get it right next time. A slap on the bottom with an open hand is not assault by a childs parent. And all you kid haters out there need to come to the realization that you where once a child too and I’m sure you, yes you even cried in public! But you just don’t remember. And another thing kid haters this child is a 2 year old, not 5 or 6 years old. There is a big difference. Or maybe these kid haters are only children and are still a little jealous because the crying kid is getting all the attention. hahahaha! WAAAAAAA!
I agree that casual observers may not know the whole story. But some of the behaviors I have witnessed, and seeming proliferation of them (almost every time I go anywhere in public and most times more than once during a public outing) and parent’s complete non-reaction that the majority are not autism related or attributable to a disability. Sometimes of course that is the case. And I have never scolded a parent (it’s not my place to) but I know personally that I have been in situations where family has embarassed me when I’m with them because they don’t teach/discpline their child when they misbehave in public (and there is no underlying problem).
GWLawschoolMom
Exactly!
Gyges and Buddha, et al.
Thank you for calling out the trolls and the troll-like activity. Anyone who thinks that it is ok to slap someone else’s children for any reason needs a little incarceration to clear their head. What is the difference with slapping an adult or a kid? If you slap an adult without a self defense situation, you are going to jail and possibly get sued civilly. The mere fact that the victim was a minor does not lessen the crime.
Lola…
I will just say that a casual observer may not know the whole story.
Certainly there is no sign on my child that says…I’m autistic!
He looks normal, in fact he’s pretty handsome, he looked normal as a younger child, and I got the “your child is a brat” lecture more than once, often from people who should have known better.
Those who really know me know the extraordinary lengths I have gone through to raise my child, to give him what he needed, to teach my child right from wrong. But you wouldn’t always know it based on his meltdowns in public. (Thank god those days are ended)
I think I’m annoyed at this thread, because its obviously a grievous thing for this man to have done, yet people are like….but what was the mother doing?
I’m really tired of people often blaming the parents for situations that they don’t know diddly squat about.
oh please. poor moms. boo hoo. cry me a river.