 Mr. Cranky
|
(CNN) — A Georgia man allegedly slapped a toddler at a Walmart store because she wouldn’t stop crying, authorities said. Roger Stephens, 61, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree cruelty to children. An incident report obtained from police in Gwinnett County indicated Stephens did not know the 2-year-old girl he stands accused of hitting.
The confrontation happened shortly before noon at the Walmart in Stone Mountain, a suburb of Atlanta. According to the arresting officer, the child’s mother said her daughter was crying as they walked down one of the aisles. The mother said a stranger later identified as Stephens approached them and said, “If you don’t shut the baby up, I will shut her up for you.” A few moments later, while the mother and the crying child were in another aisle, Stephens allegedly grabbed the girl and slapped her across the face. Police said he hit her four or five times. “See, I told you I would shut her up,” the suspect allegedly told the mother.
This type of behavior is to be avoided, no matter how tempting it is.
When our son was 5 or so (he’s now 24) he asked his mother “Why do people always hit their kids at wal mart?” Apparently the trend continues.
I would have shot him. End of story.
/yes, I ccw. and yes, I have used it before.
Have anyone wondered why the mother didn’t leave or ask for protection after this enchanted fellow threatened the child the first time. I’m sure Walmart would have asked the guy to leave immediately and never return. I wonder if she was yapping on a cell phone and didn’t really pay attention. I avoid Walmart at all cost. One of the main reasons are young women with kids in those oversized carts with children in the ,”cab”. They’re loudly yapping on a cell phone while banging those damn big carts into everything, especially other shoppers. They hit you, and give you an annoyed look. Meanwhile the kids are hollering and grabbing at everything.
Amazon and UPS is divine bliss.
She should have attempted to make her child be quiet if it was “That Bad”… I would take my child outside to avoid upsetting other store patrons.. ( i have done this before…in restaurants as well).. but to hit a 2 year old usually is a waste of time… but by the time they are 3 or 4 they will understand a bit of punishment…but at 2 …just let ’em cry it off… I understand this mans frustration and Feel bad for him that he lost his temper and now will pay for this act for a long time… it will all be senseless in the end… I myself have corrected another persons child on an airplane… as he was playing with (pulling on) the Over Wing Emergency Exit Handle….. he was about 5 or 6… Then I requested that his family change their seating… (they not supposed to be in that row anyhow..for this reason)
He has all the known indicators of being a right wing Republican.
Angry, frowning, uses religion to justify his perversion, short tempered, picks on the weak, operates under the radar, is a closet Walmart shopper, abuses women as if it were his wife, can’t see his eyes, not well groomed, large ears.
What’s the big deal? It takes a village to raise a kid, right? I guess the guy was from out of village.
#8, Wow, I thought my parents were the only ones who used that line (and then me, of course) 🙂
All joking aside, I’m with 27 and 33. If I catch you slapping my 2 your old, you’ll be leaving the store in a rubber bag.
I don’t care about the child one way or the the other, but I am interested in whether the girl stopped crying. If so maybe some children need some loving beatings, hee haa hee
Whatever………………………
Traaxx
Annoying as a crying kid is, if the guy would as much as lay a finger on my child I would have beat him to pulp on the spot.
However, parents these days are just idiots – there is no basic discipline, no basic rules. Kids need love and caring but they also must have rules.
Every kid can have these crying and screaming episodes – they *are* kids after all. But when a kid is truly misbehaving, one should look closely at the parents because that is usually where the problem is.
Bottom line – Six months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Case closed! 😉
#36-Dallas-He has all the known indicators of being a right wing Republican.
Looks more like a angry liberal with one stuck in the chamber.
Yep – angry, frowning, uses civil rights to justify the attack, short tempered…
Yes, definitely a liberal. Probably there just to buy environmentally friendly light bulbs.
#30 & #36 — Why the slash to right-wing (or even middle ground) Bible readers and true believers in Jesus Christ? There’s nothing in the article that says he is a Bible reader, a Christian, or a right-winger. I don’t consider myself a Republican, an Independent, a Democrat or a member of a political “party”. But, I am a Bible reader, a believer in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and a conservative true American. One that believes in the America that the Founding Fathers intended it to be. Let me quote, Dr. Benjamin Rush (aka Father of American Medicine)1745-1813: “I am neither an Aristocrat or a Democrat. I am a Christ-ocrat.” Maybe you obvious left-wing liberals need to stop being indoctrinated by American media and stop being indoctrinated,dumbed down by the past 40 years of text books and learn the real history of America and the people who made it great. Then maybe you can hold told an intelligent conversation that doesn’t make you look so silly. Why don’t you get a KJV Bible, a history book called Josephus and read some of the Founding Father’s letters and try to prove the Bible wrong or try to prove that the Founding Fathers didn’t believe in the Creator of the Universe, God. Are you afraid that reading this might make you – oh my! submit to a Higher Authority named God instead of your human frailty of flesh and Satan? There’s a battle raging in the world today – a battle against the true God and Satan. Answer this: Whose side are you on? You can’t ride the fence? You are either on God’s side or Satan’s side. By your posts, I already know the answer.
I don’t agree with what this man has done. It is the responsibility of the parents to discipline their children – and it is not always proper to do so by administering pain. I see undisciplined children every where that I go. But, I would never slap somebody else’s child. He crossed the line. He had the option to remove himself from the situation. He chose to act on his obviously bottled up anger of which a small child should have never been the recipient of. He obviously had something else going on, but that does not justify his actions. This man had a choice to make. Everyone has choices to make: Satan or God, Heaven or Hell, right or wrong, left or right, do good or do bad, and the list goes on and on. Why do people hate the Bible and Jesus so much (by the way I know the answer, I’ve read and I study the Bible)? The morals and values taught in the Bible will make you a better person. Believing in Jesus will save you from an eternity in Hell. It’s a win, win situation. You just have to submit to the authority of God. Submit to to an authority higher than yourself.
By the way- many, many cults and evil doers use the name of God and quote the Bible as a cover up for why they do what they do. It’s Satan’s way of subtly masquerading what is done in his name by giving it a glimmer of light instead of darkness. People usually believe in and follow the light and turn from darkness. Jesus is the true Light. Satan’s day and the day for all who follow him is coming. I’ve read the last chapter in the Book.
#41 Conservative Christ-ocrat said, “#30 & #36 — Why the slash to right-wing (or even middle ground) Bible readers and true believers in Jesus Christ?”
You haven’t been on this blog for too long, have you? A lot of the posters will turn any story into an anti-religious story.
I think restaurants should have children and non-children sections like they did for smoking and non-smoking sections.
As for Wal-mart or any other place in public, parents need to make their children behave. A stranger should never physically punish a child, but there is a duty to tell a parent to control their child.
#41: I read the Bible once. Unimpressed. I’m also unimpressed with your screed.
From what I’ve seen (not heard about, seen), Bible thumpers like yourself are more likely to thump on their kids, also.
#44 and anyone else: I wasn’t trying to impress you – I was just stating the truth.
It’s okay with me if you are not “impressed” with the Bible – I don’t have to pay for your sins or your unbelief. You do!
Enjoy your time here on Earth, one day it will end and then it will be pay day.
As for my children, they are not little angels unless they are asleep.
However, I do teach my children to act appropriately when they are at home so that they will act appropriately when they are in public. It is teaching each and every day and will continue until they are ready to fledge the nest. In public, they already know what is expected of them and they don’t annoy other patrons.
Parental responsibility is being shucked off like every other personal responsiblity in our current America.
I will tell you this, I get compliments on my children all the time when I am in public. People make a point to walk up to me and say so. My children are not robots, they’ve just been taught right.
I was taught right by my parents and they are not even Christians. So was my husband and his parents are not Christians. You don’t have to be a Bible “thumper” to teach your children not to act like wild animals.
I recently took a trip by plane with my children – ages less than 10. We spent time in two major airports that were heavily populated while we were there. I received compliments from other travelers on the planes and in the airports about how well I handled my children and how well mannered they were. Obviously people notice a difference in children who are taught correctly and those who are not. And obviously, in our current America, they are so shocked when they see children who act like they should, that they have to make a point to tell the parent.
And Benjamin (sounds like you’re more on my side): Yes I am new to this blog – just today actually. I just had to chime in when I saw the comments from other bloggers – that I couldn’t see how they were pulling right-wing/left-wing out of an article that stated nothing of it. However, I have a life outside of sitting on my keester infront of a computer debating with people that I can’t see.
#41 – Holy Shit!
yeah, the parents are to blame for needing to continuously supervise their child, needing to go to the walmart, and being unable to prevent a 2 year old from crying at an inopportune time.
No.
The guy should spend the rest of his sixties in prison. I would have beaten the snot out of him if he had done that to my kid.
I’m just curious if the kid finally shut up.
#9
“Dead kids don’t cry”, eh?
#44
Those are very bad Bible readers then. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”, isn’t it?
I am not defending this guy. Parents need to control their children. I am not referring to the two year old, but might I mention the parents that let their children ride bicycles around the store.
In my opinion bicycles should be locked up like they lock up the ammo at Walmart.
#45 Sorry, I just don’t have the patience to read the keyboard diarrhea posted in #41 an #45.
Question. What the heck is a Conservative Christ-ocrat? It seems what remains of the Conservative party is splintering into all sorts of weird mutations.
I’m not sure what the Center for Disease Control is going to do about this.
Was is any of these people?
http://peopleofwalmart.com/
Here is a little experiment that I’ve tried and it works..
Look in the childs eyes and ask “So WHAT are YOU crying about?” Shuts then up like a charm!
#51–Dallas==I read far enough to find out that Christ-0-crat was what Dr Benjamin Rush called himself==meaning he wasn’t of a political party but rather a follower of god. Good to know actually==assuming its true as just about everything else he wrote is just bunk.
I wonder if we contesting parties can be happy we live in a country where we are BOTH allowed the freedom to hold the beliefs we do, or sadly if too many of us are unreasonably dissatisfied because we can’t force the others to conform?
#53–Mick==similarly==when a kiddie trips and falls and looks up to see what he should do about it, laugh or cry, I ask him “Look–did you leave a hole in the floor?” The kid with tears forming in his eyes, looks around and says no. Usually enough for him to forget what happened.
Yes==parents have so much control over how kids orient themselves to the world. As such===when seeing a kiddie screaming and all upset in a store, the person to be slapped is the parent.
Holy cow! Something else I agree with bobbo about. Watch a kid hurt himself playing sometime and you will notice that they look around to see if they are supposed to cry or not. They usually start crying if you look at them after the incident just so they can get the attention.
As for the little phreak saying he would use a knife against someone for touching their child and ending them. All I can say is your bravado with a knife won’t do much good in a gun fight. I’ve been threatened by guns, knives and fists and been shot at. I can tell you that you won’t get close enough to use it with one to the pelvic region and two to the head.
I agree with the person that said the mother should have been slapped. I don’t know how many times that I’ve seen a baby crying in Walmart and the mother doesn’t even hear it. I guess if you’re around a baby all the time that is crying and you do nothing about it, you get used to the noise. You can’t blame the kid, but you can blame the mother. It’s easier for her to just ignore the child than to actually see what the matter may be. That is a BAD mother that needs someone to slap her for the child’s sake.
Sadly, there are some people that should never have children. And when they do, they take them to WalMart. May God have mercy on your soul if you happen to cross paths-
http://tinyurl.com/lhonpd
# 56 Pffft LMAO.
Meh, I’m 55 and I ride the bicycles around the store, I leave them in different locations.
I was in Wal-Mart with a neighbors dog that I was watching. The little white fuzzy dog was in the shopping cart and one of the Whale-Mart critters approached my and told me dogs weren’t allowed in the store. I replied that this was a seeing eye dog, dead serious. She/he/it replied, “oh, ok” and just walked off. Still makes me LMAO when I think about it.
#62 – Enema of the State.