Posted on 09/02/2009 5:05:07 PM PDT by freed0misntfree
(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."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
This is a close call.
Angry guy, if he slapped my child, it would have been a CNN obituary.
He may not have had the right but a cruelty charge is a bit much.
Close call, what do you mean. If he was arrested he will be found guilty or innocent. My bet, according to police report is he should spend a bit of time behind bars.
Close call?...the hell it is. I would have kicked his ass up around his neck if he did that to my child.
LOL I agree, have seen those in the store and mama doesn’t do anything...but I don’t think I could slap one as much as I would like to..
“That’ll learn her !”
Not really. The guy is lucky the kid's dad (assuming he is a Conservative) wasn't there or -- old age or not -- this guy would be eating dinner through a straw for a month or so.
You can get mad at the parents for allowing a kid to scream, but you do NOT touch the children of strangers.
I know in the South, it is more accepted to correct children even those not of your own but only to a certain extent. It is kind of funny when I talked to young people, when I hear them refer to me as sir, I know they are from the South and I even ask them that which I get an affirmative from them.
No, it is NOT a close call. You do not slap a stranger’s child and you do not slap little children in the face. Period. A swat on the bottom of your own child passes muster with me. What that man did was totally out of line.
Agreed. The flip side is you probably wouldn’t have let your kid cry un-dealt-with, interminably. Which might be what was going on.
I’m not excusing him, at all. But I am saying that many parents allow some pretty egregious behavior in public, so I can see how it might have come about, even if I think it was incredibly stupid and wrong.
“That’ll learn her !”
A teachable moment!
(kidding)
He looks like a human pitbull.
You kids, get off my lawn! No, you can't go in my backyard to get your ball!
Did it work?
I was gonna add that... ;-)
He looks like David Letterman.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.