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If I may run against the tide for a moment here. From my first view of this tape on tv, it was not clear that this woman mercilessly "beat" her child. It appeared that she slapped at the child in rapid downward motions and it was not evident how hard the child was struck. The fact that the child has been found to be "fine" by the prosecutor indicates she was not severely "beaten."

I have an 11 year old daughter who I would never hit and never did hit, and this mother may not be the most solid citizen. But I think this is a case of 35 seconds of video being used to demonize a person and take a child away to a "foster home." Sorry, but I find all the comments about people becoming ill and leaving the room over this video to be somewhat extreme. Now she has to "prove" to the government that she can be "trusted" with her own child. I think it's good to protect the child, but this is also another case of video lynching, IMHO.

.. From my first view of this tape on tv, it was not clear that this woman mercilessly "beat" her child. It appeared that she slapped at the child in rapid downward motions and it was not evident how hard the child was struck.<<

With all due respect, I have seen many posters on this subject who evidently did not see the part on the tape after the child is in the car seat and the mom draws her hand into a fist and punches several times in the direction of the child. Of course the view is obscured, because the walls of the SUV were not invisible.

But, IMHO, to presume that the woman drew back her fist that many times and threw punches with no intention of harming the child in any way, (after having shaken her around by the pigtails and swatted her several times in the floorboard) stretches credulity to the breaking point.

The little girl said her mom shook her around by the pigtails and hit her. The mom said she had done wrong. THe lawyer said she had done wrong. But still she has her defenders.

Again, with all due respect, unless you have seen almost a full 30 seconds of unedited videotape, you have not seen the incident and cannot comment intelligently.