Posted on 09/20/2002 11:02:55 AM PDT by Texaggie79
MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) - A woman who was angry after leaving a department store was caught on a surveillance tape looking around as she helped her young daughter into a vehicle and then brutally beating the child for about half a minute, authorities said.
Police were searching for the woman and 4-year-old child Friday. The woman's sister, who had been with her in the store, was arrested, said community prosecutor Maggie Jones.
"As far as we know, she tried to exchange some merchandise, was denied that, became angry in the store at the service clerk and left. But I don't know how that could provoke an attack like this on a child," Mishawaka Police Chief Anthony Hazen said Friday on NBC's "Today" show.
The woman could be seen on the tape punching the child and shaking her, and authorities believe the little girl might have serious injuries. A doctor who saw the tape said she could have suffered head, neck and brain injuries, said Mike Samp, a police investigator.
Authorities identified the 25-year-old woman as Madelyne Gorman or Madelyne Toogood and the child as her daughter Martha Toogood.
Hazen said the woman is believed to be from the Dallas area and has a history of misdemeanor charges. He did not elaborate.
"We've spoke with several members of the family; they are not being cooperative right now. They said they disagree with the actions but they don't know where she's at," he said.
Hazen said the sister faces charges of failing to report child abuse, and the child's mother could face felony battery charges in the Sept. 13 beating.
"You can see the woman grab one of the girl's pony tails and forcefully shake her. That right there, not even counting all the blows that we saw the woman make, that right there constitutes battery," Jones told CNN.
The videotape shows the woman and girl walking to a sport utility vehicle along with a boy and the woman's sister.
The two women had tried to return merchandise at a Kohl's department store in Mishawaka, just east of South Bend near the Michigan border, but were refused, police said.
The tape shows the woman placing the girl in the vehicle's back seat and then striking her about the head. The woman also appears to shake, slap and punch the child before getting in the front seat and driving off.
The vehicle shown in the video had Texas license plates, and police eventually found it at a Mishawaka apartment complex. Police said it was not registered to either of the women shown on the tape.
So it's a crime to fail to report child abuse, but it is also a crime to report smartass Islamists punks who spew pretend terrorist threats at a public restaurant.
Now I get it.
I'll elaborate.
The local news here has traced this woman to an Irish/Gypsy group that lives in White Settlement, a small community north of Ft. Worth. The whole group engages in parking lot and roofing scams and the cops here are constantly dogging them.
A friend of mine who owns a drug store won't let them in his store after they practically wiped him out once while he was arguing with one of the matriarchs about a prescription.
I don't think her legs were kicking happily--from my view she was thrashing in pain--you know how you rub your elbow furiously after you hit your funny bone or hop around after smashing your baby toe ??
And she's damn lucky I wasnt in that parking lot because she would've gotten the beat down of her life. That crap is BS! Completely intolerable. She hit that little girl repeatedly in her face.
NO! Let me come across her. That'll be the last little girl she beats on.
You sure are. This was a beating, pure and simple. The woman's got an alias (as most Gypsies do) and hopefully will get her ass thrown in jail.
Yes, it did. But it also looked like the mother was beating the crap out of her. A real series beating....
It appears the woman looked around to see if anyone was nearby before she began striking her kid, possibly for not getting into the carseat "fast enough". Then, after she secured the carseat, it appears she uses her fist on top of the child's head a few more times for good measure. It made me feel sick to watch it.
How could what be a scam? No doubt this woman stole something and tried to return it for cash.
Parking lot and roofing scams involve low bidding for a job, getting some money down, then leaving town.
Gypsies are notorious for these kinds of things.
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