Man slaps stranger’s crying kidBy KATIE LESLIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Gwinnett County man is in custody accused of slapping a stranger’s crying toddler in a Stone Mountain Wal-Mart on Monday.
Sonya Mathews, the mother of the 2-year-old child, told police that both were walking in the aisles of the Rockbridge Road store when Roger Stephens, 61, approached and said “if you don’t shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you,” according to a police report.
A few moments later, in another aisle, Stephens grabbed the 2-year-old and slapped her across the face four or five times, according to the report. Stephens then told Mathews, “See, I told you I would shut her up,” according to the report.
A bystander held Stephens until store security came to assist, according to a WSB-TV report. When police arrived, Stephens said that he slapped the child and that he apologized to Mathews, according to the report.
Stephens was charged with felony cruelty to children. He had his first court appearance Tuesday and is being held at the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond, according to the Gwinnett Police Department spokesman Cpl. David Schiralli.
The 2-year-old victim sustained slight redness to the face, according to the report. There was no video footage in the area the incident took place, according to the report.
28 comments:
Felony cruelty to children? What does that even mean?
Here's the set up. Use ridiculous situations like this to justify what will soon be laws against spanking. Right now it's some curmudgeon White guy getting arrested, but tomorrow it will be parents all over the country who will get arrested for "felony cruelty".
I can't believe that child's mother (or anyone else for that matter) didn't whoop that man's behind for that.
the child was not Black....had she been the headline would have read much differently....
tgn
tgn, you certain that that mother wasn't Black?
Every report I've read thus far indicates otherwise.
I asked my wife and daughter what they would've done under similar circumstances. My wife immediately responded that she would've crushed his windpipe, no matter how scary looking he was.
My daughter, who's now 5'11" like her mother, and has that adolescent animal strength going for her, wasn't sure she would've attacked him. (he has a scary looking face)
So here's the thing, when you're in the grocery aisle or checkout line, the first thing you should do is size up the humanoids around you, assess all potential threats - as a matter of routine. Weapons in a store are no problem whatsoever since they're all around you in that particular setting.
A tin or steel can, with it's hard edges and hefty mass, makes for a great face smashing weapon - those are readily available in stores. Those high impact plastic separating rods used to separate your groceries from the next persons in the checkout, will also work wonders whacked across the bridge of a nose or stabbed into the fragile bone of the occular orbit.
It only takes 48 psi to fracture a skull or kneecap (kick with hard street shoes), and most 10 year olds can generate that amount of force.
Most cats aren't prepared to full on tackle you or take out a whole rack of goods to protect themselves from a furious onslaught, so if you don't hesitate, and attack the vulnerable parts first like there's no tomorrow, you win. (don't forget not to let up on them until they're unconscious or choking on their own blood - some people get all soft-hearted and don't let the full beast out until the fight is finished, bad idea)
On the other hand, occasionally you run across somebody willing to throw their entire body into taking you to the ground and pounding your head in, (the great equalizer and slayer of most martial arts techniques) in which case you may actually be in trouble - though typically in a crowd - other folks would intervene on behalf of a women being murderously attacked that way by a man.
Cnu..
ur killing me.. im laughing inside.. prudent advice nevertheless
sad but true confession Ill...,
post-adolescence, I can't remember a time when I didn't mechanically clock every public assemblage of random long-pigs.
interestingly - I find you can always read other cats who clock too - against a backdrop of folks mostly just asleep and obliviously going about their ritual habitual.
concealed carry muhphuggahs stick out like sore thumbs.
I think that big chunk of metal they're trying to hide always distorts body language in very stereotypical ways.
Seriously how the fuck did he get a grab and four to five slaps in???? I don't care if he's The Rock I'm taking his ass down as soon as he reaches for my child.
C'mon with the tough talk guys. Cnu, your steely eyed rational assessment merely shows why you won't be leading the revolution--way to overreact there sport.
If the depressing future you envision occurs, you'll have to watch them slap your baby once in awhile--the violent overreaction isn't gonna fly in Dystop-America.
The guy is clearly an ass, not a killer--it took him a few minutes and an aisle to get up the nerve to bring the pain to a child--mama kills him she gets sympathy, a spot on the news, and 2 to 10.
You wanna make it in the future you predict, you'll live longer with a modest underreaction, not a survivalist freakout.
Not saying some Matthau wannabe should be slapping babies--but crush his windpipe and you won't last long in a poorer, more conservative society.
And if you ever spot my CCW you get a gold star-- I'm not walking or dressing that way, and a big smile goes a long way to hide a gun.
Cnu, your steely eyed rational assessment merely shows why you won't be leading the revolution--way to overreact there sport.
The revolution DD?
rotflmbao...,
What's coming around that signpost up ahead looks a heck of a lot more like just desserts - from where I sit.
There's not going to be a revolution here, anymore than there was a revolution in Haiti or Mexico.
If the depressing future you envision occurs, you'll have to watch them slap your baby once in awhile--the violent overreaction isn't gonna fly in Dystop-America.
If?
Violent overreaction is a daily occurrence in fin d'siecle Murka DD.
The more dystopian things become, the more commonplace violence-ultraviolence will become until that good old wild, wild, west homeostasis is reinstated.
The guy is clearly an ass, not a killer--it took him a few minutes and an aisle to get up the nerve to bring the pain to a child--mama kills him she gets sympathy, a spot on the news, and 2 to 10.
I'm sorry, I must've missed the part where a woman goes to jail for smashing in a mans face with a can of beans after he repeatedly slaps her child, or for that matter, where she experiences any consequences for striking him a little too hard across his windpipe. Sorry, but the minute he assaulted that child, not disciplined that child, he forfeited his personal safety.
Not saying some Matthau wannabe should be slapping babies--but crush his windpipe and you won't last long in a poorer, more conservative society.
Life is far cheaper in poorer societies.
The comments above had to do with permissable counter-assaults by women in still collapsing Murka.
And if you ever spot my CCW you get a gold star-- I'm not walking or dressing that way, and a big smile goes a long way to hide a gun.
DD, you could be outgrinning Ronald McDonald - but if you're carrying and you move - I guarantee I'll read your tell.
"A tin or steel can, with it's hard edges and hefty mass, makes for a great face smashing weapon - those are readily available in stores. Those high impact plastic separating rods used to separate your groceries from the next persons in the checkout, will also work wonders whacked across the bridge of a nose or stabbed into the fragile bone of the occular orbit."
HAHAHAHA! Oh man, CNu, my sides hurt.
Yeah, maybe you would know I'm packing, I'll assume you're right.
I dunno, I'm all for a well-deserved ass-kicking but I'd rather let the authorities do a shitty job of it than risk the legal drama myself.
But then again, I'm practically neutered by packing heat--I'd probably not kick someone's ass just to avoid being questioned while carrying. TEHO.
Gray, you would allow this troglodyte to slap your toddler across the face?
Seriously, you would allow this man that close to any child of yours?
Assuming you were that careless, that you allowed this man to verbally assault both you and your child without repercussion, and then subsequently allowed him to get close enough to your child to then batter the child, you find it contra-natural to instantly retaliate with an equalizing object in the most savage manner imaginable? (for a smaller person not carrying a firearm or an edged weapon, that is)
Yet, dorcas daddy is walking the streets secretly strapped to kill somebody. (oh yeah, I forgot, 2nd amendment, personal self-defense and all that premeditated rationalization)
I discontinued routine concealed carry in 2001 after an incident in which my daughter was verbally assaulted by a van full of morons.
Casual violence is a helluva drug dood....., and minimization of effort combined with maximization of casual violence yield is a terribly inadvisable combination.
You are correct, I am secretly strapped to kill somebody-but don't straw man me, I didn't claim any of the parenthetic nonsense you're putting on me.
And I think we agree on the effect of concealed carry--as I said it neuters you if you're at all responsible. Crazy guy slaps my kid I'm much less likely to retaliate against him armed than not. Crazy guy attacks my kid, I'm much more likely to kill him armed than not.
Isn't that your point on why you no longer carry--it prevents the proper, more moderated response?
Casual violence? I'm anti-attacking the slap happy creep, at least with any level of force larger than what's required
to get him to stop.
To clarify, 99 of 100 confrontations I see my gun as disadvantageous--I also see those confrontations as livable.
So I'm sacrificing my social right as a man to kick ass when acceptable, gaining an advantage in that freak occurence when deadly force is appropriate.
This can't offend you, can it? You're just keyed up from the social wars you're always fighting on the internets, but I'm no gun crusader--CCW basically sucks unless you lose life's lottery and need to use it.
I like this new cat.
DD,
When was the last time you got into a serious fight, and, in the aftermath, was your opponent able to walk away from the altercation?
(p.s., I'm neither offended or keyed up - I think my "alley apple" advisements to women on grocery aisles or on checkout lines was right on time.)
CNu said... "Gray, you would allow this troglodyte to slap your toddler across the face?
Seriously, you would allow this man that close to any child of yours?"
CNu, I don't have any kids man, but the answer is no, I wouldn't let that fool near my kid, much less give him the the chance to slap him/her across the face multiple times. I took many a Muay Thai lesson back in the day and I would have teed off on homeboy something fierce.
You are correct, I am secretly strapped to kill somebody-but don't straw man me, I didn't claim any of the parenthetic nonsense you're putting on me.
You leave home with a baseline presumption of lethality, yet, my opining to women on how to non-lethally equilibrate in what is to most normal sensibilities an uneven exchange - is somehow an "overreaction"?
Perhaps we should unpack your concept of a "poorer and more conservative" society DD?
Take my father for instance, he was born in 1907 and lived through the Great Depression in the prime of his life, not to mention Jim Crow.
Dood, was the quietest, gentlest, and most moderate man you could ever meet. Yet in instances such as the one described in the article anchoring this thread, and during a period during which any form of "militancy" was roundly frowned upon and actively suppressed, his penchant for shocking overreaction was legendary.
CNu, I don't have any kids man, but the answer is no, I wouldn't let that fool near my kid, much less give him the the chance to slap him/her across the face multiple times. I took many a Muay Thai lesson back in the day and I would have teed off on homeboy something fierce.
and....,
in the store, do you think you would've repelled this repellent creature empty handed, or, do you think you would've picked something up and worn him the phuk out with it?
^CNu, have you ever played Street Fighter?
Do you know what a Tiger Uppercut is? Because that's what he would've gotten.
I haven't been in a serious fight since I was 18 decade and a half ago, and dude walked away but we both got stitches, me in my hand, him in his head. I won the fight, and still have minor nerve damage in my thumb from the bottle I stabbed him in the head with.
So there's that.
An uneven exchange, equilibrate....sounds to me like you're suggesting that the weaker party in a conflict gains an advantage by escalating.
Probably true if the fight is inevitable, but I'd say the last thing the weaker party wants to do is escalate any conflict that may be over.
Clearly, Grumpy Old Man was done after the slaps--and smashing him in his head won't make her kid any safer, nor will it teach him (or future probable slappers) a lesson.
I'm kinda like your (brief) description of your father--I'm sweet, avoid conflict, turn the other cheek when slapped, run when threatened, beg when cornered, grovel when surrounded, and prepared to kill the fools that won't let me save my ass.
In my worldview, as an individual, you draw your line in the sand way back towards your end of the beach and defend it ruthlessly. You don't look for an excuse to defend your rights or social position, you only defend your life.
The rest is just posturing, ego, and unnecessary bs.
^CNu, have you ever played Street Fighter?
lol..,
nope.
However, I DO have this little Atari console that I'll drag out from time to time when I want to get my Pong or Breakout on.
An uneven exchange, equilibrate....sounds to me like you're suggesting that the weaker party in a conflict gains an advantage by escalating.
Street fights are decided by shocking, incapacitating violence right up front coupled with a commitment to NOT let your opponent walk away from the altercation, period.
Dorcas Daddy,
I summarized to the Mrs. the essentials of our disagreement about exactly what should've happened to Stephens for assaulting this Black woman and her toddler, and then battering the toddler.
She didn't buy the "Grumpy Old Man" defense and asked point blank if you were the father of a toddler daughter named Dorcas and what exactly you would have done if some crazy-eyed and screwfaced old negro assaulted Dorcas and her mommy and then proceeded to batter little Dorcas until she was red in the face?
So DD, what would you have done if the tables had been turned and somebody perpetrated on your peeps the way Stephens perpetrated on this defenseless woman and her child?
If Stephans was willing to attack this woman and her child in a public place this way, what do you suppose he might have been willing to do to them had there been no witnesses?
A Grumpy old man in public, might be nothing other than a terroristic killer-ape out of the public eye....,
I think saying that you would allow the police to handle a child being slapped in the face is a lot easier said than done, especially if the child is your own. I fought a girl once for hitting her own child in the face with a boot (not a boot she was wearing, we were at the mall) and not only was it not my child, I had never seen either of them in my life. Seeing a child get hit is heart wrenching. If it's my own child or a child that I have a personal connection to I can't imagine that there would be any rational thought involved. What the hell are the police going to do to a woman protecting her own child??? I guess for most of us, that question would have been answered the moment he snatched our kids up. And it's not about tough guy talk either because if you can beat me you're going to have to do it. No damn way I'm sacrificing my child because I'm too much of a punk to defend him/her.
I do have a toddler named something similar to that. And if Creepy black dude yelled at my wife, then minutes later smacked my kid and talked some shit--I'd probably unload my gun, toss it on the floor, and beat his ass.
But it's not the proper response. Shit, most of the armchair survivalists out there are hoping for armageddon just so they can dispense their own justice. We can do better than that.
My wife, alone, and this happens? She's not attacking the guy, at least not until it's an actual full blown attack and she fears for my daughter's life. Because she's gonna get hurt attacking some big troll.
I always avoid fights because even when you win, you will get hurt.
That was my point about the gun, and about weaker people attacking stronger people. If you are incredibly strong (armed, MMA, whatever) you tend not to use violence because you can really bring the pain.
Small women attack big men because they don't expect the conflict to be escalated again by the man.
But if someone weak attacks someone strong, they're counting on social convention to save their ass 99 out of 100 times. When you're dealing with someone who flaunts social convention, you should be careful about escalation--you're outmatched.
So let's compromise: If mama can brain the guy with a can while he's smacking baby--fine.
But if she nails him right after he says "Told you I'd shut her up," then she's not doing herself any favors. Let the boys at county jail deliver your beating for you.
I like this cat!
Welcome to the blog Pops.
"My wife, alone, and this happens? She's not attacking the guy, at least not until it's an actual full blown attack and she fears for my daughter's life. Because she's gonna get hurt attacking some big troll."
I'm confused... so if it's just a few slaps, better the child take the beating than the woman?
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