Kevin Fujii / Chronicle
The Panther, a stun gun wielding 300,000 volts, was used by a man to punish his 8-year-old stepson for missing his school bus. Posted on 09/26/2002 7:17:06 AM PDT by Dog Gone
SWEENY -- After his 8-year-old stepson missed his school bus earlier this week, Theodore E. Moody told the boy to walk.
Kevin Fujii / Chronicle The Panther, a stun gun wielding 300,000 volts, was used by a man to punish his 8-year-old stepson for missing his school bus. |
Child welfare officials removed the boy and three other children from Moody's home near this Brazoria County town after learning that he had been disciplining the boy with the battery-powered device.
"I just can't fathom people doing something like this to their own children," sheriff's Capt. Jeff Adkins said Wednesday.
District Attorney Jeri Yenne, who tested the device on herself to understand what the boy felt, said she is awaiting the outcome of an investigation before deciding whether to file charges.
"This is a new one for us," said Estella Olguin, spokeswoman for Children's Protective Services.
Officials at Wild Peach Elementary, in the Columbia-Brazoria school district, contacted authorities Monday after the boy arrived. Adkins said the boy told police his stepfather used the stun gun to punish him for being late to school.
Moody, 27, who recently quit his job as a truck driver, acknowledged Wednesday that he had resorted to the stun gun when other disciplinary methods failed.
"I felt I did the right thing," he said. "The belt didn't work; this did. It hurts less than the belt.
"I've whipped his ass so hard that it left marks. That just didn't send the message and this did."
Moody and his wife have two children, ages 2 and 3, in addition to the boy and his 11-year-old sister, who are her children from a previous marriage. All four are now in a foster home, Olguin said.
Although parents have the right to use corporal punishment, she said, the methods must be within reason.
"They felt (the stun gun) was an appropriate form of discipline," she said. "This just seems like a very cruel way to punish a child."
Moody, who moved here several years ago from New York, said he had told his stepson that if he missed his school bus again he would have to walk to school, although it is several miles.
"So we went for a walk and every time he slowed down, I hit him in the ass with (the stun gun)."
He said he had acquired the Panther 100 recently in exchange for a pack of cigarettes. He tested it on himself, his wife and a neighbor before using it on the boy, Moody said.
Moody said his wife drove him and the boy the rest of the way to school after they had walked about a mile and the boy grew tired.
Adkins, the sheriff's captain, said the mother told officers that she does not consider stun-gun jolts a harsh punishment.
Adkins said he has been shocked by a stun gun and likened it to a severe bee sting, followed by temporary paralysis. He said the device usually causes two small, red blisters similar to insect bites.
Yenne, the district attorney, said she wanted to know how much pain a stun gun inflicts.
"I used it on myself because I honestly thought that I needed to know if it caused physical pain and I needed to know what the 8-year-old felt like," she said.
She touched her leg with the device and said it was an unforgettable experience.
"It hurt. It was very uncomfortable," she said. "I don't think I will do it again."
From a prosecutorial standpoint, Yenne said, there are differences between parents who deliberately abuse their children and those who use poor judgment when administering punishment.
"I believe sometimes that well-intentioned people make horrible decisions on discipline," she said.
She added that the expectation of pain was almost worse than the pain itself.
"The apprehension prior to it was probably more excruciating," she said. "It is psychological abuse. This goes to show that some people believe that if you don't leave marks there is no injury. I really believe that was the thought process."
Depending on what the investigation turns up, Yenne said, Moody could be indicted on a third-degree felony of injury to a child.
A court hearing will be held Tuesday to determine whether the children should remain in CPS custody.
Moody said he still believes it was appropriate to use the stun gun, but said he will not use it since police and child welfare officials believe otherwise.
"It's not abuse," he said. "The instructions say that it cannot cause permanent damage. My definition of abuse is some kind of permanent damage, whether it be physical or mental."
The Panther is manufactured by Panther Stun Guns.com, a division of PersonalArms.com of Little Ferry, N.J. Company vice president Nick Cicala said the devices are intended for self-defense but, unfortunately, also are used to attack others.
He said he had never heard of one being used to discipline a child.
Lock him up and throw away the key. I just feel bad for the mother, who may lose all of her natural children to the state for what is most likely the "crime" of being terrified of this psycho. Once he is out of the house, I'm sure the 4 kids would be perfectly safe with their mother.
I got whippings every day; belts, switches, 2x4's, shovels, parachute cords, paddles,cattle prods; whatever they could get their hands on. I was bad. Teachers would not let me out for recess because I would scale the barbed wire fence and run away. Once caught, I would fight like a trapped animal, biting, kicking, screaming...you name it. My parents tied me to the bedposts if they had to do something that required me to be out of sight for even a minute. My sisters were straight "A" students with "A's" in deportment. Once, at 5 years old, I ran away from Cheyenne and made it 11 miles toward Lincoln before a Highway patrolman caught me. I tried to kill my little sister when I was 5 with a bell pepper laced with tabasco sauce. At 8 I caused an international incident when I walked into a Shinto shrine and opened and played with all of the gifts to the gods. I learned to buy liquor in Mexico at ten and was burned out on alcohol by the time I was fourteen. This was before drugs thank God. Football and the USAF saved me. I pray to God that my daughter has more of her mother's genes than mine.
People do this all the time, but they may not know the extent of the shock. What is this? It is the anti-barking collars and the invisible fences that are currently used. There also electric fences that are used to either keep stock secured in one area or to prevent entry to an area for animals such as feral pigs. Though it is not good to be the bird that lights on a wire over a stock tank to take a drink of water.
No, what he did is not excused or permissible. Yet at the same time I have watch young brothers at "shows" zap each other to the floor, then daddy yanks them back up and tells them to quite playing around. A coke and bag of chips later they are back at the tables trying to zap each other again.
I didn't think that you did. But calling the kid a wimp because he quit walking after a mile of being stun-gunned in the ass, and then comparing him to your (presumingly well-parented) daughter, seemed a bit unfair.
Born hell raiser. Don't know why either. Raised him from age 18 months
I had to discipline him almost daily. It was always done in a loving and evenhanded way. I whacked his arse plenty. He knew the rules and he knew the consequences. The rules were always fair.
Walking behind your kid goosing him with a stun gun is not discipline unless you are running a house of horrors or just a complete moron
Exactly my point. The police know that pepper spray can be lethal when applied directly to a person's face, yet, in Seattle, let few people go stupid and riot and all the other peaceful people get sprayed 6 inches from their with pepper spay full blast. Stun guns were used on people simply watching the mayhem. Police used "less than lethal force" on many people undeserving of any force, and the police used such "less than lethal force" in lethal ways.
No one is advocating using stun guns on kids. The question is why do we use them on adults. Besides, there are many who would argue against the belt.
(not a flame....truly curious. I'm a stay-at-home mom of 2. I can honestly say I've spanked both of them numerous times.....much to the chagrin of others. Not beatings....spankings. My older one would try the patience of Jesus, himself. At age 2 1/2, she came up with an imaginary friend....that she didn't get along with. They're now 10 and 8 and I can't remember the last time either one of them got a spank.)
anyway, considering your upbringing, I was just wondering how you felt about punishment for your own children.
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