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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: Paul Atreides
The mother probably shouted to the child to get in the seat, so she could make a hasty retreat. The child, hoping to end the beating, did what she was promptly told.

You may be right, but I'm sorry, I have not seen a hand strike the child in the video. I see lots of arm flailing by the Mom, but no contact.

Is it not possible the woman suspected surveilance and thought she could set up a false arrest sting?

201 posted on 09/20/2002 1:29:34 PM PDT by TC Rider
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To: glory
Not to mention that they were forced into arranged marriages before they'd even hit puberty.
202 posted on 09/20/2002 1:30:03 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: All
>>I can't believe there is a debate going on about this little girl kicking her legs....those were punches.....not love taps! The mother not only hit her when she was on the floor she continued, after pausing, when she got in the car seat.<<

Definitely punches. THE ALTERNATIVE THEORY: The is refused her refund, goes out in the parking lot, shoves her kid into the floorboard, swats her repeatedly with lots of force (This is NOT in question; it is plainly visible on the tape), shoves the child, again with force, into the car seat, draws back her arms and again, with lots of force, hits....THE CAR SEAT. Absolutely preposterous.

203 posted on 09/20/2002 1:30:23 PM PDT by SerpentDove
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To: SerpentDove; Texaggie79
This is a very bizarre thread.

Tex, are you saying that you have watched the whole video, cannot tell for sure whether any of the multiple punches actually happened, but think you can correctly assess 1.5 seconds of foot boucing at the end?

Do you just not want to see it?
204 posted on 09/20/2002 1:30:41 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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To: SerpentDove
I agree with your point, though I suspect that the 5 cold bodies in the Yates case kind of took the uncertainly out of it for the skeptical types.
205 posted on 09/20/2002 1:32:16 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: TC Rider
Is it not possible the woman suspected surveilance and thought she could set up a false arrest sting?

For what possible gain?

One cannot provide reasonable cause and then scream false arrest.

206 posted on 09/20/2002 1:32:37 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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To: Billy_bob_bob
Woah there Nellie! No where in my previous statement did I say a multi hour beating is justified!

Hey, sorry your life was like that, but the majority of familes don't fit your description or we would be living in a police state. Yep, video cameras in every home, monthy home inspections by authorities, nosey neighbors and innocent parents in jail. Now that's a way to live! Completely in fear of every move you make.

Sounds like you need to get a chip off your shoulder - it's been there for a long time.
207 posted on 09/20/2002 1:36:57 PM PDT by spokanite
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To: HairOfTheDog
make that "probable cause" hehehe - my qualifiers got scrambled.
208 posted on 09/20/2002 1:37:18 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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To: TC Rider
I have seen mothers play with their children. I have seen mothers spank their children. I have seen mothers wrestle with their children. I have seen mothers trying to wave away an insect bothering their children. I have seen this from every angle; front, side, and behind. That mother was BEATING that child. I saw the video with the sound down, so I did not have to be told by a newscaster that the mother was beating the child.

Here's a question: if you saw the video, and it was of your babysitter doing the same thing in the video, with your child, what would be your first reaction?

209 posted on 09/20/2002 1:37:53 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: HairOfTheDog
I really think TexAggie must have seen one of the edited versions of the tape. I saw a RealPlayer version and it looked plausible that nothing was really out of line. But based on the reactions of police and the doctor working with them, as well as of many freepers who've seen the full video on TV, I think it's pretty clear that the full tape showed an unmistakeable brutal assault.
210 posted on 09/20/2002 1:38:18 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: TC Rider
It did seem the little girl 'scampered' into her car seat after the initial 'beating', which I thought odd. If the child had been hurt, wouldn't she be cowering?

Not necessarily. She might have been scampering in an effort to appease the beast and avoid another beating. Abused children often try very hard to please their abusers.

211 posted on 09/20/2002 1:39:03 PM PDT by lsee
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To: HairOfTheDog
If they can find this monster of a woman and that poor child, the bruises will be all the evidence needed. That little girl was BEATEN. There's no doubt.
212 posted on 09/20/2002 1:39:13 PM PDT by Saundra Duffy
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To: spokanite
I'm having trouble figuring out where you stand. Would you or wouldn't you call the police if you heard a neighbor beating their child for hours on end? Yes or no?
213 posted on 09/20/2002 1:41:17 PM PDT by Billy_bob_bob
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To: glory
Thanks. I've only seen one quick clip. I was horrified.
214 posted on 09/20/2002 1:41:54 PM PDT by GVnana
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To: Texaggie79
You're getting flamed here, but I have a relative who was stopped by the police for "beating" her children. My relative is a medical doctor who would never do such a thing. She was only putting the children in their seats in the car, and a neighbor called and reported her to the police. That neighbor never liked my relatives - she seemed to be very jealous of their success. The cop checked the kids out and commented that they looked scared. My relative retorted: That's because a cop is shining his flashlight in their faces.

However, that doesn't mean the woman on the videotape is innocent. I can't get the online video to work, so I cannot comment about her. The photos don't show very much.
215 posted on 09/20/2002 1:42:20 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: Saundra Duffy
And quite possibly the broken bones from this and previous beatings, all at varying stages of healing, as is often the case with abused children. The "good" news (though I shudder to use that word in connection with this case) is that even if they manage to hide her long enough for outwardly visible bruises to disappear, there will almost certainly be X-ray evidence to prove abuse (hopefully X-rays of a live child, and not of a corpse). It's highly unlikely that this was the first time this child was brutally beaten, and also highly unlikely that the beatings haven't resulted in some broken bones.
216 posted on 09/20/2002 1:43:37 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: GovernmentShrinker
"I really think TexAggie must have seen one of the edited versions of the tape."

That would seem very likely. The first time I saw this video was when it was shown by the local news station. What I saw the first time made me wonder what the big deal was. The second time I saw it the tape went a few seconds longer, and then I could see the scene where the woman appears to be slugging the child. That's when I understood the concern.

217 posted on 09/20/2002 1:43:57 PM PDT by Billy_bob_bob
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To: spokanite
And it also sounds like people need to be able to make some sound judgments about a situation that deserves to be looked into. This video is one of those situations. Child abuse is not a political issue, it is a moral one. To show your bias against Child Protective Services NOW, during a thread with this much evidence screams about YOUR poisoned view, not CPS's.

Don't get all paranoid about home inspections by authorities... That is not what the world coming to.

Look with your head and trust your heart. I think rational people can tell the difference between a kid having a temper tantrum and a kid being beaten by a parent that has lost it. We need to protect the helpless in this society, even animals protect the young in the pack.

218 posted on 09/20/2002 1:47:38 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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To: Billy_bob_bob
It has been my experience that streaming video on the Internet can be described, at best, as crappy. Most of the time, it is nothing more than stills, shown in succession. I saw the full video, on FNC. It is obvious what the mother is doing. Now, if she had just swatted her on the bottom, one time, I wouldn't give it a second thought. This was an all-out pummeling though.
219 posted on 09/20/2002 1:47:57 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Tired of Taxes
Your relative is lucky her kids weren't seized and subjected to "interviews" with child psychologists who'd plant tales of physical and sexual abuse in the kids minds, and then use their own reports to get a court to keep the kids in foster care, and send the parents to mandatory therapy where they'd have to "stop being in denial" and confess to all sorts of things they never did, in order to get their kids back.
220 posted on 09/20/2002 1:57:19 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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