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Women Sought in Videotaped Beating
Yahoo ^
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.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: childabuse
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To: spokanite
What about when a neighbor hears a child being beaten for hours on end? Screaming and yelling and pounding going on and on and on? Broad daylight, full afternoon sunshine when the beating starts, pitch dark when it ends? Would you call the cops then?
Because I wish to God someone had called the cops when that was being done to me some thirty-five years ago. Maybe the cops would have taken me away from that psycho b!tch, and I could have had something resembling a childhood instead of the hellish nightmare I got to grow up in.
So where do you draw the line? At what point do you pick up a phone and call someone to get involved? The kid can't do it for themselves, they're too brutalized and terrorized to be able to call for help. Would you call for help for them? Or would you just remain silent while the beatings go on and on and on?
Oh, and the best thing about beatings like that one? They never really end. They just keep on giving and giving. But don't get involved. Don't want to disturb your perfect little world.
To: Naspino
I saw the entire video and the mother was clearly punching the child in the head and face. This was horrible. The kid was kicking from pain or trauma. I can't believe how many of you people are in denial that this stuff happens a lot. WAKE UP!!
To: Commie Basher
"Police states grow by restricting freedom in order to fight unpopular groups (criminals, child molesters, hate groups, terrorists, "gun nuts"). "
All of the activities that you list as "unpopular" are in fact illegal, except the gun-nuts. If the country is on a high state of terror alert, and I hear men of middle-eastern descent discussing dates and such as these men were, (I believe Eunice) I would report it. If I see someone beating the life out of a child, I will report it. This is not in deference to the state, but out of the valuation of the innocents that could be harmed if the activities go unreported.
To: Texaggie79
fox reported she had a misdemeanor shoplifting charge at a Kohl's store this spring in TX, hence the mugshot, and this recent incident happened at a Kohl's in Mishawaka.
the mugshot is here... click on her picture to get to it.
http://mishawakacity.com/
To: spokanite
I agree..we all need to be careful that what we perceive to be the truth of a situation..really is the truth. However this video is pretty substantial proof that the child was not lovingly placed in the car, then given a hug and kiss for getting in her car seat so quickly. It raises some questions...and the mother needs to be questioned and the child examined.
Red
To: Diverdogz
I disagree. She even looked around first. If her sis had seen any movement at the store entrance, bet that beating would have stopped.
To: FourtySeven
Okay, I'll bite. First I'd yell at her to stop it. If anyone else is around, I'll shout for help. If she didn't stop beating the child, and she were really beating the child and not merely spanking, I would pull her off of the child. I would hope that it wouldn't cause her to start swinging at me because I'm not a fighter, but I'm not about to ignore a defenseless child being beaten to a pulp. If someone has to be punched by an adult, and it's between me (an adult woman) and a small child, then it should be me.
147
posted on
09/20/2002 12:09:48 PM PDT
by
alnick
To: Diverdogz
Plus, security could have been looking away from the screen, attending to something else, or just plain not doing their job.
To: GirlNextDoor
They probably did, but couldn't get there on time. The incident lasted only half a minute, and depending on where their office was located in the store, even if it was by the front door, and where the car was parked, it may have easily taken longer than that to get to her. After the few seconds it must have took to actually process what she was doing, they probably had one guy stay on the camera and another guy take off running but she was gone before he got close enough.
149
posted on
09/20/2002 12:14:27 PM PDT
by
agrace
To: Texaggie79
Texaggie, I'll agree with you about reserving some judgement about parents and their kids. I know all to well about how things really are and what they might look like, especially to the hyper sensitive. However, what does not sit well with me in this case is the fact that the family is hiding the child. If this child was unharmed and she was tackling a seat or killing a bee or the spanking was not as brutal as it appears to be, than why hasn't the child been produced without any harm to her. I think it's because the woman did in fact beat this child visciously and those punches left marks. As someone else said, they are hiding the child until the bruises heal.
If this was all a misunderstanding and the child is unharmed, I can't see how the mother would have had a problem producing the child, even through relatives.
150
posted on
09/20/2002 12:17:24 PM PDT
by
glory
To: lady lawyer
What is a Traveler, please?
To: Texaggie79
you can see the kids legs kicking happily like nothing happenedNot inconsistent with a seizure resulting from brain injury.
To: E. Pluribus Unum
So I take it that you don't believe, despite the fact that 99% of all suicide terrorists are Islamists, that Islamists deserve any special scrutiny if they make public references to "America mourning on September 13th?" You take it right. Maybe it comes from my living in New York and L.A. all my life (don't know what it's like where Eunice Stone lives), but Indians, Muslims, and other peoples of color don't freak me out. It'd take more than an "Islamist" joking about 9/11 to make me suspicious.
After Dahmer was caught, a friend and I (both white guys, like Dahmer) spent some time at a diner inventing Dahmer jokes. I think everyone who overheard realized we were only joking. I think "Islamists" deserve the same benefit of the doubt.
To: Conservobabe
154
posted on
09/20/2002 12:24:18 PM PDT
by
ofMagog
To: GVgirl
then thrown into a carseat (legs bouncing>>
This is the only thing I'll correct. I've seen the whole tape and you can see the child climbing into the seat herself, but it's very quick and a second later, the mother hits her again, puts the holder thing in place, and then procudes to do the most viscious part of it all and punch at what appears to be her face or head. Just thought it should be noted that the child did indeed appear to climb in the seat herself, but it's not shown in the edited version of the clip.
155
posted on
09/20/2002 12:24:30 PM PDT
by
glory
To: Billy_bob_bob
If I saw a kid that was beaten to a pulp by it's parent(s), yes I would call the authorities. But, if I knew my neighbor and I had seen their child happy with life and having fun most of the time, then I would probably brush aside the screaming and crying from next door if it happened on rare occasions. The child probably wasn't getting their way and probably needed an attitude adjustment.
To: Commie Basher
I'd wager a good majority of FReepers (and other Americans) engage in activity that's "suspisious" to some people. Merely carrying a gun, or reading a book that's "far Right" or "far Left" or the Koran, or renting a horror or porn film, or taking a late night walk, is "suspicious" to some people. I promise you, if you call the police or FBI and report that your neighbor is suspicous because reads the Koran, they'll be polite to you, hang up the phone, and do nothing more about it but possibly get a chuckle out of the lunatic who just called.
157
posted on
09/20/2002 12:25:27 PM PDT
by
alnick
To: Commie Basher
Those who really value liberty will oppose reporting both. Okay, if I ever come across you being beaten, I'll be sure not to report it.
To: Commie Basher
Maybe it comes from my living in New York and L.A. all my life (don't know what it's like where Eunice Stone lives), but Indians, Muslims, and other peoples of color don't freak me out. It'd take more than an "Islamist" joking about 9/11 to make me suspicious. Oh, you are so much more Cosmopolitan than the rest of us ignorant peasants.
What about if the Islamist twirps made their little funny at an airport?
Or is it only people who aren't likely to be terrorists who should be subjected to body cavity searches to board an airplane?
To: GovernmentShrinker
Also, some children when abused try to please the abuser so the abuse will stop. Maybe that's why the little girl was kicking her feet like nothing had happened. I saw that one time on a video of a little Jewish kid getting beat about the head by one of those Nazi doctors from hell. The kid was trying to be pleasant. Excuse me now while I go and throw up!!!!!
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