Mother to surrender in videotaped beating of girl

Associated Press ^ | September 21, 2002 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Mother to surrender in videotaped beating of girl

09/21/2002

Associated Press

MISHAWAKA, Ind. - A woman seen on a department store security tape punching her 4-year-old daughter plans to surrender Saturday, her attorney said Friday night.

Police have been searching for Madelyne Gorman Toogood since Sept. 13, when a camera in a department store parking lot videotaped her punching and shaking her 4-year-old daughter.

The attorney, Stephen Rosen, said Ms. Toogood is on her way to Chicago and will surrender. She is charged with felony battery to a child.

Indiana police took the search nationwide Wednesday when they released the tape. "We want to get the girl the medical attention she needs," Police Chief Anthony A. Hazen said. "We want to get her to an emergency room and let them examine her."

Ms. Toogood is also wanted in Texas on at least two warrants. Fort Worth police said one warrant involves a shoplifting charge in March. Authorities in White Settlement, a Fort Worth suburb, issued an arrest warrant on an unspecified Class C misdemeanor.

Ms. Gorman's sister, 31-year-old Margaret Daley, who authorities say was present at the time of the incident, was arrested and charged with failure to report child abuse.

Police received more than 1,000 calls about the video, which was first aired Wednesday night.

Staff writer Laurie Fox contributed to this report.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/092102dnnatbeating.86c.html

[frodolives]

and I love your nickname!

[Brices Crossroads]

"I feel a lot safer knowing that some rapist/murderer is wary about trying something because of cameras in the parking lot"

I don't. In the first place, most rapes/murders/robberies are either crimes of passion or are induced by drug cravings. If you think some drug crazed lunatic who needs money for crack goes thorough that kind of calculus, you are naive indeed. I can also tell you, my friend, that surveillance photos are generally of poor quality and, when cases involving such pictures are prosecuted, the photos often prove more useful to the perp than to the prosecutor. Balancing the negligible good these cameras do against the potential for abuse, I come down against them.

[alnick]

Interestingly, this debate about how she should or should not have behaved could not have occured without big-brother watching through the camera.

Now we all have the opportunity to put this woman in jail and/or put the kid in a foster home etc. Perhaps sending the kid to a foster home and this woman to jail might keep the little girl from physical injury or worse....but next time, maybe you will be investigated for spanking your child?

Oh yes, let's sacrifice the little four-year-old girl's life for the higher purpose of keeping video cameras out of public parking lots.

[Diddle E. Squat]

So I take it you advocate a good beating now and then to keep the wife in line?

[Kevin Curry]

The only thing that can be said for certain about this story is that 30 seconds of surveillance video can get every loser in America to scream for Barrabas'

And just who is "Barabbas" in this peculiar passion play?

[FITZ]

Of course, the worst possible thing you can do to that little girl is to use the gov't brute force and separate her from her natural mother who.

The mother seems to have problems dealing with life if she tries to return a shoplifted item, is denied and beats her child for it. Just because someone is your kid doesn't mean you can assault them, maybe the family can be saved, or maybe there's a father to take custody?

[Paul Atreides]

I know for a fact that a rape occurred in broad daylight at the parking lot of the local mall. In another instance, I was approached by a man, claiming that his wife was in labor and needed to go to the hospital, right at that moment. He seemed really eager for me to give him a ride to where his "wife" was located. Yet, he would not go back in the mall and call for help. I even offered to give him some change to make the call. Then, I told him that I would call an ambulance for them. He refused and started walking away. At first, I started to just go on my merry way. Then, I thought about what might happen if he tricked some poor unsuspecting person. I called the mall security and they came out to question him. He took off like a scalded dog.

Also, if the photos are such poor quality, and work to the favor of the perp, then why are you so worried?

[Irene Adler]

" She was not really striking the child. She was brushing something off the headrest."

"Brushing something off the headrest" Beyond satire..."

Unfortunately, there are a lot more clintonistas out there than just the Clintons. It was a real eye opener to me to observe how many tolerated, repeated, and whitewashed the past administration's endless blatant falsehoods (not to mention felonies) over and over and over again for eight long years. In-your-face, preposterous lies no longer surprise me. I do believe the Clintons' behavior has encouraged more people to try to get away with blatant lying.

[TigersEye]

Have trouble with analogies? They don't always have to correspond completely with every element. Loser.

[Kevin Curry]

But Barabbas is a vital element in this anology, it is sine qua non.

So who is "Barabbas"? Who did you have in mind?

[Paul Atreides]

I guess a lot of these people would believe a wife-beater if he said "Oh, her face just ran into my fist."

[Lauratealeaf]

I also read that the woman's family has not been very cooperative. She and her family move around a lot. I suspect that they are gypsies. She was trying to return merchandize that didn't come from Kolh's. Typicle gypsy scam. Also no evidence that she is living with the father of her children. The van she was driving was a new one. Wonder if that was her own or part of the gypsy caravan? I hope they take her children away. There is no excuse for beating children.

[Kevin Curry]

Better yet, who is the "Jesus Christ" who is being sacrified to the mob for the release of "Barabbas"? The little girl's mother?

[FITZ]

Honestly, no spankings?

I believe in spankings but only rarely and on the rear-end only, I've spanked on occasion but never when I was angry and not much past 2 or 3 years of age. I've seen families where the kids were never spanked and never yelled at and the kids turned out very sweet and respectful.

[eddie willers]

a threat reinforced by frequent beatings for every other glass of spilled milk

My father was this way towards me.
Although it's true that many children that suffer through this type of behavior come away with a resolve that "I will never be like that" and follow through (I'm proof) the evidence is, sadly, that most child abusers were themselves abused.

Your example was particularly poignant to me because a few years before my father died, we were eating in a restaurant and a child at another table knocked over his drink his parents were angry and started yelling.

My father said:

"You know, when you were little I acted the same way. But I was with David the other day (my nephew... his grandson) and he spilt his milk and I just laughed and ordered him another one.

I don't know why I reacted that way with you.
Doesn't seem important now."

That's as close to an apology as my father could possibly grant.
And it was graciously accepted!

After 40 years, we finally became father and son.

[TigersEye]

The truth or the presumption of innocence might fit the part. 'Let's just let fact finding go, I saw something disturbing in the video, lemme at her'. Gawd you are a loser.

[spunkets]

"his dad may hesitate before doing it again."

I did a couple of those interventions, before all the child abuse laws. I always gave the kid my card and never left until I was assured the kid would call if it ever happened again. I also made sure the cowardly oaf paid attention, so he knew I'd be back. I knew if I interveined, the creep would take it out on the kid later if I didn't promise a return and surprise check.

Nowadays, it's better to let the Sheriff in on it and make sure the kid has his card. Most Sheriffs pay more attention now.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Video of this story

Has anyone been able to decipher a downloadable hard link of this file for the bandwidth challenged?

[Kevin Curry]

Were you beaten as a child?

[Irene Adler]

I understand that CPS can make some bad mistakes that hurt people. I am aware of one such among my own acquaintances, though the parents were able to explain their actions satisfactorily to CPS, and the kids were never taken away.

However, we had one horrendous case where I live in which a little two year old girl was given back to her mother from the foster parents who were taking care of her since she had been abused by the mother. On a visit, the foster mother noticed some black(!) toes on the child's foot. The child said the mother had hit her toes with a hammer(!). The foster mother reported this but no action was taken. The mother shortly after murdered the child.

Yes, CPS makes terrible mistakes, sometimes (they are dealing with potentially terrible situations, after all), but they are not all in the same direction, by any means. And I don't think every action they take is mistaken, either. They do some good. We never know what horrors they prevent from happening when they intervene in abusive family situations.