None. The mother beat her child.
The mother's gripe is that she wants the child left with the same family members who have been hiding her from authorities until the bruises fade.
How do you know there were bruises? You are making a supposition and a characterization by claiming that the family was "hiding" the child. Where should the child have been, if not with her family? I agreed with Mike4Freedom that the family should have immediately taken the child to a doctor for medical examination to either prove or disprove injury to the child. If they waited eight days it certainly hurts their case. But we do know that the child has now been examined and shown to be without physical injury. She is described by the prosecutor as being "a sweet, wonderful girl. Physically she looks fine."
Excerpts:
A mother who was captured on videotape beating her 4-year-old daughter said Sunday she will do anything to get the child back and she's "terrified" of what may happen next.
Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 26, of Mishawaka, Ind., surrendered to police on Saturday to face a child battery charge eight days after the nationally televised videotape depicted her shaking and slapping her daughter in a department store parking lot.
"I didn't think my daughter deserved to be hit like that," Toogood told reporters on Sunday. "I lost my temper. My daughter should not have to pay for it."
Toogood's daughter, Martha, is currently in foster care pending the outcome of her mother's legal ordeal. Toogood pleaded for her daughter to be put into the care of her husband or other relatives if she cannot have her.
"Martha comes to my bed every single night," Toogood said. "I've never been anywhere without Martha … she is going to wonder why we are not coming to get her."
"I wanted proof that she wasn't abused," Toogood said, so she videotaped her daughter the night before she turned herself in to show there weren't any marks on the child.
Toogood admitted that she hit Martha on the head and on the back and pulled her hair, but said she didn't punch her. Martha showed no signs of physical injury, but the state placed her temporarily in custody of another family, prosecutor Chris Toth said Saturday."
An example of the media-induced hysteria I have been trying to get FReepers to admit to from my first post:
The article on FOX says, "Toogood also claims she wasn't looking around the parking lot before the beating began...." That's not at all what she "claims." She never denies looking. What she denies is that she was checking for witnesses, which is the conclusion y'all have come to on the matter.
"...although that's what the video shows her doing." What the video shows her doing is turning her head and looking. How do any of us know what she was looking at? Perhaps a horn was blown, perhaps tires squealed, to cause her to turn her head.
How do you know?!
But it is so much more fun (and makes real good press) to make the assumption that she was furtively making sure she would not be seen! What Toogood said of turning her head was, "I saw something that caught my attention."
The woman admitted to beating her child. She has not admitted to the hysterical posturings of many here.
Do we know really that? The mother drove the kid to NEW JERSEY to be examined after a beating that happened in INDIANA. Bruises fade rapidly on a child. And with 50 family members in on the deal, are you abosultely certain that it is the same chaild?
I suffered a fall with extensive bruising just before leaving on a trip to Virginia and New Jersey (from Wisconsin) last year. The bruises no longer showed by the time I got to New Jersey eight days later -- although they still hurt like crazy! I'm an older person, and bruises last longer on someone like me. However, they had faded remarkably in this case, despite the pain I was still suffering. My fall was from a faulty pair of sandals and sheer stupidity on my part. I can't imagine the emotional pain I would have felt if my bruises were at the hands of a family member.
Ms Toogood also abandoned that fancy SUV to avoid detection. I'll bet her husband that that was a nifty act. No wonder she has volunteered to leave her husband and split up the family just to get the kid back. And she died her hair too. But you don't consider those acts an attempt to hide from authorities?
Tell you what, Carb., I've got the most wonderful waterfront property to sell you in Florida! And I'll throw in a beautiful bridge in Brooklyn just to seal the deal because you are so perceptive. < /sarcasm>