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Women Sought in Videotaped Beating
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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: jimbo123
Watch it jimbo. You are walking a very fine line.
To: Naspino
Maybe we'll see the kid, if the sadistic mother hasn't killed her and disposed of her.
To: Texaggie79
I'm just not going to jump to conclusions when it comes to parents and their kids. I want more proof. I want to see bruises. I want proof that she wasnt hitting the seat because it wasn't opening or closing right. Just because her arm is moving rapidly, and the child is inthe general vicinity, I'm not going to cast my judgment. I have to agree. This video is not definative. This could very well have been horse play, and for all we know the mother wasn't making any contact with her "blows" and "shaking". She could have simply been making the little girl laugh. I don't know. Lets see the kid before we hang this woman.
To: FourtySeven
In other words, would anyone here really beat up on the woman, if confronted with this situation in real life? I wouldn't beat on her, but I would stop her and threaten to call the cops if the child didn't look bad.
If the kid's bleeding or obviously hurt, I would physically hold the woman and get somebody to call store security or the local cops.
If these neanderthals are going to beat their children, they could at least do it in their own homes.
84
posted on
09/20/2002 11:34:07 AM PDT
by
sinkspur
To: Naspino
Big difference man. We, and millions of others, have seen clear evidence of a savage beating delivered to a defenseless child by a trusted adult. There is no doubt in my mind what I witnessed. And no defense for the woman's actions. TexAggie79 is making Texans look bad with this defense of the woman. Texans, like everyone else, should step in on a situation like this and put an immediate stop to it. In this situation apparently there were no direct witnesses (other than the woman's sister), so the entire country should track her down asnd SEVERELY punish the bitch. Any defense of this woman DISGUSTS me.
To: Texaggie79
OK, I just saw the video on Foxnews for the umpteenth time. Watch the first few seconds after she puts the girl into the car. She is CLEARLY, ABSOLUTELY pummeling nothing but her child. Once the child falls to the floor it is harder to tell, but one could guess she ain't swatting flies.
By the way, Fox has a great mugshot of the mother from a previous arrest.
86
posted on
09/20/2002 11:34:49 AM PDT
by
Rokke
To: FourtySeven
I'm just curious to know what the typical person would do if confronted with this for real, instead of having the security and relative anonymity of the Internet to shield you from the reprocussions of, say, suggesting this woman be beaten up herself. In other words, would anyone here really beat up on the woman, if confronted with this situation in real life? First I'd call the police. Then I'd walk up to tell her the cops are on the way and check on the child. Finally, I'd let her know that she can calmly sit and wait for the police to arrive, or I can restrain her. Her choice.
I certainly wouldn't beat her. That would be hypocrisy at its finest.
To: FourtySeven
If I were there I would walk up to her and I would say "Hey! What are you doing!" hoping that my intrusion into the situation would help to divert her attention away from the child.
Hopefully that would, by itself, be enough to de-fuse the situation. If she decided to attack me I would allow her to land one or two blows (I'm a big guy) and then I would cold-cock her. One hard shot to the jaw would drop her like a ton of bricks.
Of course, at that point I'd probably be the bad guy and would end up getting arrested. The good news is that I can afford to hire the best attornies and so I'd be out on bail within hours and I'd have the very best defense in court. Once the local DA saw that I was ready to scrap for my rights I imagine they would back off from any charges. It would still cost a lot of money for me, but it would be worth it to spare a kid some of what I got to go through when I was a small child.
I truly despise violent single mothers who take their frustrations out on their children. I hope this b!tch ends up behind bars, and gets a special welcoming from the cell block.
To: Texaggie79
We ALL make judgments based on our own life experiences, don't we? I don't like innocent parents to be harrassed by a vindictive "system" either. Based on my own life experiences and my reading of her family ties and actions since the incident, I am leaning toward believing the evidence of my eyes...that in this case what looks like a beating probably was a beating. It is my hope that we don't eventually see the proof of child abuse in that child's autopsy photos....If the mother is innocent, I'd be very interested to hear her explanation of what happened and to see her unscathed daughter.
89
posted on
09/20/2002 11:35:52 AM PDT
by
lsee
To: sinkspur
There is now a photo available. Just saw it on FOX. And guess what...it's a mug shot.
90
posted on
09/20/2002 11:36:20 AM PDT
by
mewzilla
To: Texaggie79
Have you ever seen a small child try to appease a parent by being "cute?" This little girl could make herself adorable several times a day.
91
posted on
09/20/2002 11:36:24 AM PDT
by
GVnana
To: FourtySeven
I would not beat her, but I would restrain her. I have 4 boys of my own, 2 right around the age of the little girl. I am not squeamish about spanking them when necessary. Punching a child, however, is a completely different story- it is not discipline, it is torture. The point of a spanking is discipline, not release of the adult's tension.
As I have stated before, I cannot even bring myself to watch the video.
who here has actually seen the blows? no one? didn't think so. I saw the video on TV, not some crummy internet stream. It looks like she was nuts, whatever she was doing.
who knows what this nut was up to, but you could not see any blows landing on the kid.
It looked like she was shaking the seat maybe...
the problem here is that she WASN'T arrested and had the kid taken away. Then this thread would be "State steals woman's baby because of indecisive tape"
Comment #94 Removed by Moderator
To: Texaggie79
Aggie, that woman is being the $h*T out of her baby. My daugher will kick when she is angry or upset (especially when you try and put her in a carseat), but this is completely different. I hope they find that woman and rip out her uterus and and then vivisection the rest of her.
To: Paul Atreides
My father would use a hammer to swat flies.
We soon learned to keep away from the flies. ;^()
96
posted on
09/20/2002 11:37:20 AM PDT
by
johnny7
To: Texaggie79
That could easily be done if the so called mother would quit running from the police and produce her daughter. Why do you suppose she won't do that? The bruises haven't healed yet?
To: southern rock
Yeah, she has to look around to make sure there are no witnesses before she begins "playing" with her own child. The video IS definite. The woman was hitting the girl.
To: KneelBeforeZod
A closed fist does not render discipline.
99
posted on
09/20/2002 11:39:02 AM PDT
by
mewzilla
To: Defend the Second
I'm not defending her BEATING the kid, so shut your pie hole. If you are a Texan, you must live in Austin with the rest of the libs.
I'm just not going to join in the mob mentality and attack this woman because of what "appears" to be.
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