Stranger allegedly slaps crying child in store
aNiMaL
Posts: 7,117
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/02/geo ... index.html
Stranger allegedly slaps crying child in store
By Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer
Roger Stephens allegedly slapped a stranger's crying toddler in a Walmart store in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
(CNN) -- A Georgia man allegedly slapped a toddler at a Walmart store because she wouldn't stop crying, authorities said.
Roger Stephens, 61, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree cruelty to children. An incident report obtained from police in Gwinnett County indicated Stephens did not know the 2-year-old girl he stands accused of hitting.
The confrontation happened shortly before noon at the Walmart in Stone Mountain, a suburb of Atlanta.
According to the arresting officer, the child's mother said her daughter was crying as they walked down one of the aisles.
The mother said a stranger later identified as Stephens approached them and said, "If you don't shut the baby up, I will shut her up for you." Video Watch what the stranger said »
A few moments later, while the mother and the crying child were in another aisle, Stephens allegedly grabbed the girl and slapped her across the face.
Police said he hit her four or five times. "See, I told you I would shut her up," the suspect allegedly told the mother.
Authorities described "slight redness" to the toddler's face. Before he was arrested, Stephens apologized to the mother for striking the girl, the incident report said.
Stephens, a Stone Mountain resident, is being held by the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department.
Stranger allegedly slaps crying child in store
By Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer
Roger Stephens allegedly slapped a stranger's crying toddler in a Walmart store in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
(CNN) -- A Georgia man allegedly slapped a toddler at a Walmart store because she wouldn't stop crying, authorities said.
Roger Stephens, 61, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree cruelty to children. An incident report obtained from police in Gwinnett County indicated Stephens did not know the 2-year-old girl he stands accused of hitting.
The confrontation happened shortly before noon at the Walmart in Stone Mountain, a suburb of Atlanta.
According to the arresting officer, the child's mother said her daughter was crying as they walked down one of the aisles.
The mother said a stranger later identified as Stephens approached them and said, "If you don't shut the baby up, I will shut her up for you." Video Watch what the stranger said »
A few moments later, while the mother and the crying child were in another aisle, Stephens allegedly grabbed the girl and slapped her across the face.
Police said he hit her four or five times. "See, I told you I would shut her up," the suspect allegedly told the mother.
Authorities described "slight redness" to the toddler's face. Before he was arrested, Stephens apologized to the mother for striking the girl, the incident report said.
Stephens, a Stone Mountain resident, is being held by the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department.
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Once I get out of this town
9/29/04;6/27/08;6/30/08;8/23/09;08/24/09;5/17/10
★ 2009 - Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Christchurch ★
★ 2011 - EV Newcastle, Melbourne 1, Melbourne 2 ★
I agree with you, sista! Hubby and I always say quite loudly, "Screaming kid! Time to go!"...
Take your damn crying kid out to your car and sit there until it stops crying or you have to go home. Leave your shopping cart or whatever in the middle of the store and leave...Take the kid away from the stimulii and the audience...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..................
THIS PLACE IS FUCKING PRICELESS.........
And I like how you refer to the child as "it".............
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
you touch of my children and i will bury you in an early grave.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Tell me why it's so hard for a parent to remove their screaming child from the environment and sit in the car with him/her until he/she stops?
If I'm somewhere with my dog and he starts barking and is annoying to everyone, I leave the scene with him. I don't expect others to have to listen to him simply because it's just something dogs do - they bark. I respect others' right to noise-free situations...and that seems to be what's lacking with people who insist on letting their kids carry on shrieking and making a scene in public. I see so few people taking the responsiblity to remove the kid from the store/restaurant etc. to calm it down.
Take it outside. Not too hard.
It's not always about your child/children. In public, a child's behaviour affects other people.
I also like how you threaten me with death. I've only suggested parents march the annoying little sprog outside and away from what's over-stimulating it. I've never mentioned resorting to violence.
I am smart enough to never give any of my friends parenting advice.....It is their job to raise their children as they seem fit......I get that....
BUT....
Just because I do not have a child.....Does not mean that I dont know the difference between right and wrong.
More than once I have heard a couple of my friends use that classic line "Well you dont have kids".....
Personally I think that line is a bunch of bullshit....
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
This is great......
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
You're funny!
Dog or 3 year old = same basic level of intelligence...according to recent studies, not me.
PS. Did I say in here anywhere that I didn't have kids?
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
how do you know whats 'overstimulating' the screaming child??? sometimes a child can not articulate what the probem is. sometimes a parent needs to get done what is getting done. i wasnt privy to this particular situation but why didnt the man who attacked this small child remove himself from the store?? hes quite capable of making that choice isnt he??
and yes i am fully aware tis not always about my child. and i am also fully aware that we all were chidren once upon a time. ill tell you what affects me in public... when a total stranger walks up and slaps my child and then makes a smart arse comment.
what would you do if you and your girl/guy were haivng a heated argument in public and some arsehole came up and said shut that bitch up or ill shut her up for you?? would you retire to the relative seclusion of your car to complete the argument??
oh and to the person who mentioned the right to a noise free environment?? what right is that?? who said you have that right??
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
However, I am now going to put on some soothing music and read a bedtime story...
I hope the kid stays up all night crying....and you get 2 hours of sleep.....
hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.................
That was a joke........BTW
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Whoa up there....holy crap...Did a total stranger walk up and slap your kid? Some idiot did, and I am NOT condoning whate he did. I do think that some parents need to recognize that a screaming child is not pleasing to everyone's ears. It seems that a child is more likely to cry and carry on in an environment with much much much stimulation with noise and shiny sparkly things or whatever. Kids get cranky for no obvious reason (duh)...but tell me why, if a kid is having a meltdown in public, the parent can't remove the kid from the scene and go and calm it down instead of ignoring it, to the chagrin and annoyance of the other people in the store or where ever who have the right to shop in peace? Why can't the parent remove the kid from the situation?
If I go to a library and somebody's kid starts wailing, get out...I go there because it's quiet and it IS my right and the right of those around me to be in an environment free of excessive noise (which is what i meant in the first place). If you are out in a nice restaurant, do I have the right to start yelling for no apparent reason and no matter what my dining partner does to shush me at the table, I keep yelling and making a scene? Or would it be better for my dining partner to take me outside or somewhere else to try to figure out what's going on?
And yes - if I was arguing in public with someone and it got out of hand, I would remove myself from the public area or I'm pretty sure I would be told to keep my voice down, or I would say that to the person I was arguing with and then leave the scene and quite probably go to my car to finish the argument...or go home. Continue my shopping another day. It would suck, but it wouldn't be impossible. That would be the consequences of my actions.
There is a major lack of people accepting accountability for their behaviour or their kids' behaviour. Teach a lesson. There will be consequences for your actions...i.e. removal from the store, and no toy bought for you...
No way! That's why I said parents need to shut their kids up.
★ 2009 - Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Christchurch ★
★ 2011 - EV Newcastle, Melbourne 1, Melbourne 2 ★
Thing is removal from the store may well be what the kid wants ... they are bored and have had enough of shopping.
Think one of the reasons parents allow this behaviour is because it is obvious attention seeking behaviour and by not acknowledging it (ie taking the kid outside etc) you are not providing the attention which perpetuates the behaviour :?
If that was my child he hit I would've torn him apart at the store.
just sayin
even if that wasn't my child i still would have beat the crap outta old creepy guy.
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
If you beat the child the child would cry more...no ?
As far as removing a kid thats freaking in a store...you can do your best to keep the kid quiet but sometimes they're going to be loud and crying..it depends on the setting...if you're trying to watch a Movie in a theater and there is a screaming kid...yeah take the kid out of the theater...same in a resturant..but a supermarket or a dept store I would try and calm the kid down in the store...if I'm in a Target and there is a screaming kid I look for a second and continue shopping I'm not held captive in the store and I can continue on to another aisle
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
I'll agree it isn't pleasant to hear the screaming, but after I see that a child isn't being hit (yep, I would walk down that aisle), and is probably tired, hungry, bored etc, I just move away.
Anyway I hope that abusive man gets the justice he deserves.
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
I have three little ones and there are 1000 great moments for every melt down - but it happens and I bet all of you weren't perfect as kids either.
It doesn't change the fact that you still have to get the grocery shopping done, do your banking, etc and the kid won't always coorperate.
Lastly - for the non parents who are annoyed by the temporary inconvenience of a crying child...move on - at least you get to walk away. The parent has no escape from that situation.
maybe the solution is not taking your child grocery shopping. and why should I remove myself from the area when it is your responsibility for the disturbance?
i hate dogs. if i saw a dog crying in a shopping mall or if it barked at me in the park i'd embed its face into an anvil
maybe the solution is you go grocery shopping and wear earphones. some people HAVE to take their kids shopping as ... wait for it... they have no-one else to help them care for them...
all children cry... fucking get on with it... unless you are shopping in a library for tinnitus remedies then a little 30 seconds burst of crying isnt that much of an inconvenience.
If there is nobody to mind the child, how do you expect the shopping get done?! Starve them to death?!
http://www.facebook.com/jennytree
SMELL YER MA!
So if a parent is a single parent or has to run errands during the day by themselves they can't go food shopping with a baby ?
A supermarket is a huge place you can't just go on shopping after you see a screamig kid ? it's that big of a deal you can't continue and have to have the kid removed ?
Life goes on even when people have kids...you're gonna have moments when kids will be irritating you as the adult should be able to deal with it for a few seconds and shake your head and make a disgusted face and move on...If a parent is trying to calm the kid down and not ignoring the kid shit happens...if you run the kid out of the store each time kids are smart they know how to get what they want
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers