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One clip shows Claudia Muro, 29, raising the baby above her head and "slamming her on the floor three or possibly four times," according to a police report by Officer Susan J. Hayes (search) released Friday.

Something isn't right here. How can the baby still be alive, much less not even injured if this is what really happened? Same goes for the description of the shaking.

I thought when I saw the video of the Traveler mom harming her child in her van, that if an adult is hitting her child in the face as hard as she can, the kid is going to DIE, or at least show severe facial injuries including fractures that a week won't cure. I had come to the conclusion that what we thought we saw was not what was happening. The mother could not possibly be punching her child--it must have been light smacks that may well have been deserved, though good parenting would have required that they be administered in the store as the child misbehaved. Of course, that's not legal most places, thus the furtive discipline in the parking lot.

This makes me think I was wrong. Babies are, after all, designed to take a lot of falls while they're learning to walk. I've seen a friend's toddler go head-over-heels down a long flight of marble stairs, and end up only bruised. Truly freaked me out! I was sure he'd be DEAD! Maybe they're just tough little critters indeed.

I do know that holding a baby above your head and throwing the baby down is attempted murder, whatever the result. I do not know why she hasn't been charged with that.