Women Sought in Videotaped Beating

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[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.

[Amore]

I was working at home today and saw the whole video on Fox News on a nice big tv at least 3 times. It clearly showed the mother looking around to see if anyone was watching, followed by a beating, with the use of closed-fist punches at the end.

Beyond that, I would yield to the expertise of the doctor who viewed the video (I'm sure the doctor did so several times) and opined that serious injuries may have resulted. If nothing really happened to the child, the mother would have produced her for inspection already.

[HairOfTheDog]

I get the feeling that some of these folks could watch it from 4 different angles at close range and still find a way to argue that it didn't happen or wasn't too bad.

Maybe they just like being the devils' advocate. Maybe they just really think moms beat the hell out of car seats when they are really mad at a kid who also happens to be within reach.

Or maybe they have taken an idea about smaller government and so twisted and distorted it that any governing at all is evil, and that criminalizing assault against a child is a threat to their very liberty, and an open door for "the man" to get us all.

Well, I used to sympathize with some libertarian views... but if that line of thinking begins to find all law enforcement and all societal norms for decency to be wrong, and leads people to feel that they should defend this Mom, then they are painting a vision of a society I would never want to live in.

[Shooter 2.5]

Thanks.
I don't think that kid would have even listened to Arnold.
This one may have had a lifetime of parents threatening and then never carrying it out. The mother finally grabbed the kid in her arms and turned him sideways. I didn't see any male partner with the woman.

[Conservababe]

TamiPie, the mother is a member of a gypsy/traveler clan who operate outside the law. She has a criminal past and is wanted in another state even now.

I don't worry of her self esteem as much as her physical safety.

BTW, the mother has also two sons. I wonder how they are faring?

[seeker41]

Yep, Yep and Yep. Good observations!

[Ramius]

OK... I watched the video. If she is indeed beating on the kid then that's despicable.

But that's not what I can see. I see the kid getting into the car and moving to the far side of the seat. Then I she the mom striking something (can't see what for sure because she's blocking the view) but it appears to be an empty car seat, as if she's trying to get it locked into a latch mechanism of some kind. Then tipping the backrest forward to let the kid climb into the back. Then striking the top of the car seat (still empty) or the backrest to get it to latch back up.

The little kicking feet appear to belong to another kid sitting on the other side of the car seat.

I suppose it's possible that she's beating the child, but that isn't what I see, not with any clarity at all.

Hopefully they'll show up somewhere and the kid will be completely uninjured. That will make this a classic example for years to come of the vagueries of videotape and the basic unreliability of eyewitnesses. I sure hope so.

If they find her and the kid has in fact been abused then of course I hope they put her away and get that kid into a safe family.

Tex: I've seen your posts on this, and I agree with you. You're not being taken for what you say. People are interpreting what they want to hear you say, just like they are seeing things in the video that are at best unclear, and at worst just plain wrong.

We'll see.

[TamiPie]

Yes, right now, it's the physical safety of this girl that's more important, I was stressing that displaying acts of violence in front of little children may leave permanent mental and emotional scars.

[Conservababe]

Oh right, and the sister is already in custody and charged because her sister (the child's mother) was frustrated and beating a car seat? I am laughing so hard.

[keeper53]

Thank you for articulating your thoughts so well. I have been thinking the EXACT same thoughts as I have been reading this thread today...may God protect this little girl and her brothers also.....<(OFF TOPIC--is the Hobbit hole still happening?I lurked there for a while and at the Green Dragon)>

[HairOfTheDog]

hmmmm.... An "I'm not sure"? I hope you are still reading the thread and thinking this through.

Please see my 302 when you get there....

[Let's Roll]

Your dad sounds so cool.

[HairOfTheDog]

OFF TOPIC: hehehe you have some catching up to do... The New Hobbit Hole is at over 26,000 posts. The Green Dragon is on hiatus, but I will add you to the list whe we get back on track if you like ;~D

[twyn1]

Ummmm..I think you need either a new monitor or a new TV...the kid can be seen clearly, on the floor between the front seat and the back seat, while the mom is wailing away at her

[Ramius]

Yup. The video actually shows very little. What I do see looks to me like the kid climbs into the car and all the way across the seat to the other side of the vehicle. The kid doesn't appear to be anywhere near the action. Then after she tips the backrest forward, it looks like the same kid comes from the far side of the vehicle and climbs into the back.

This "looking around to see if she's being watched" business isn't quite right either. She doesn't "look around"... she looks "over", one direction, behind the vehicle, as if there was a sound or a moving car behind them or something else. She doesn't look to be angry at all, either before or after putting the kid in the car.

Beats me (so to speak).

Either way, this is already fascinating study in the science of perception. People see what they expect and the mind makes up the unclear bits in between.

[HairOfTheDog]

OK - We aren't asking for you to convict her yet. The conviction happens later, after the kid is found, and all due process given to this woman so she can explain this tape, if there is no harm being done.

What I see is dang good probable cause to check on the kid's welfare. Even that step, some here think is a threat to liberty.

Maybe the child mouthed off in the store or something, but what I do not see is a child utterly failing to listen or cooperate, the way they can, which might cause even a sane person to lose it. What do you see that explains this type of rage? - anything?

[twyn1]

It was the pencil snapping in half that did it to the kid in the movie -- but it was a movie :)

In your case-- at least the mom realized he was bothering you and tried to stop it -- nothing peeves me more than parents who seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that their "little angel" is actually a horrendous brat, bothering everyone in the plane (or restaurant, or church service, etc.)

[Ramius]

the kid can be seen clearly, on the floor between the front seat and the back seat, while the mom is wailing away at her

If that's true, then it's true. I see the kid cross to the other side of the car. I don't see a kid being hit.

[twyn1]

The kid never makes it across the car...the mom smacks at her as soon as she hops into the car and the little girl falls onto the floor--you can she her bnody as the mom hits at her, you can also (clearly on my TV) see her pony-tail in the mom's fist at one point. Honestly--what the heck would the mom be smacking at on the floorboards...are we back to the "it was a bee" theory ??

[twyn1]

oops bnody=body (must preview--must preview)

[John Lenin]

It's plain to see the mother throw a number of punches at the girl and they looked like they were connecting. You need to view it on a bigger screen, my 35 inch shows it pretty well.