A note. If someone is that enraged, it's not going to be too tough to sneak up behind them and smash them over the head with a heavy object.

I have no heavy objects in my car. I have a first aid kid, a stroller, and a box of kleenex. I would have called 911, obviously, and aided other people in any way I could if they had weapons, but I would not try to go after him by myself.

I don't have children, but I have a duty to myself not to be put in danger.
Reviewing it without it in front of me I would go with the option of calling the police.

It's possible that if I saw it in front of me all my fears of physical injury and hatred of confrontation would be swept away. Hard to say. I've spoken up for complete strangers before, and stood up for myself in ways that I look back on and marvel. Taking physical action might be the next step if I saw someone else in physical danger. Hard to say, I've never hit someone who hasn't loved me before, I doubt I'd start on a violent stranger.

I'm certainly not saying I think it would be wrong to intervene. I'm just trying to be honest about my own actions.

Just this week I've read about a couple of child deaths at the hands of parents. A girl starved to death in her mother and stepfather's house. Another girl (again, malnourished) died of pneumonia I think, after being locked upstairs in the family's pub. A kid tied to a tree as punishment in America (Louisiana?)

Contraception isn't murder.

Heh, I have a hammer in the car. To work on stuff with. My husband also keeps a shovel in the back of the car, we have to dig ourselves out of the snow every once in awhile. Yes, even shovels can stop psychos. A lot of country folk carry crap like this in their cars because of their state of readiness.

Especially if I see a kid being thrown around like a tiny wet noodle. Hmm.....I think the sight of blood all over the kid would probably have me leaping into the great unknown with a weapon of choice. Hammer,shovel, or big rock. I might have even suffered some injuries, but the kid also might not have been killed either. The chances of me dying from such injuries are less likely than that of a kid, all in all. I call it the Bait and switch.

But just because I am willing to do something about it, does not make it a requirement of others. They called the cops, which is what they were supposed to do.

What Sarge said, Cloud. The case for a justifiable shooting could not be more clear. As Massad Ayoob explained it, you're justified in deadly force when somebody must stop what he is doing, or innocents are hurt. Emphasis pretty much his.

Totally fucked. But I bet by the time anyone was on the scene that kid was already beyond hope. 1 -2 year olds, while tough are not up for repeated kicking and shaking and being thrown onto the ground.

Too bad they shot the guy, it was too quick an exit for him. slowly flayed over a week or two would be more appropriate.

So learn where your tire irons are and always keep a sock full of pennies in your console.

I keep a bat in the trunk and a 4 D-cell Maglite in the backseat for occasions such as these.
I wouldn't have killed the guy outright, I would beat him to a bloody pulp starting at his extremities and working my way to his head so he feels every ounce of pain over his whole body before he goes unconscious. Fucking creep deserved nothing less.

I remember as a kid one of my friends, let's call her a challenging child, didn't get her way in a store. She threatened her dad that she would scream and make a scene. He told her he would beat her ass for a week straight if she did. She went screaming down the aisle, "FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! STRANGER! HELP!" and pointing at her father who was chasing her.

Her father remembers that, but nothing else until he regained consciousness on the floor. A man who saw the scene thought he was witnessing a kidnapping or something of the sort did what he thought was prudent - he tackled the father and pounded his head on the floor until he was unconscious. He was horrified and apologetic when he found out the truth of it. Instead of pressing charges or being angry, my friend's father paid for the guy's groceries and thanked him for caring enough to get involved for a kid he didn't know.

You get involved. I can see staying back if it is just one person, but if there is a small group then something can always be done.

True, the child was probably already dead, but that's not the point.

Clarification: That wasn't my point, and certainly not an excuse to stand back and watch. because as a wise type * once said,
"You get involved. I can see staying back if it is just one person, but if there is a small group then something can always be done."

Very interesting divergence of opinion here. "I have a duty to protect myself" v. "I have a duty to save a person in danger."

In the case at hand, I would definitely want to do something to stop that man, but what? I could jump on him--think that would be effective? I would try to think of something, but things like that happen so fast. Too fast to coordinate some effective strategy with other people, probably. I carry nothing heavy in my car. I could hit him with the heaviest thing I have--my car--but how would I avoid hitting the child? Call 911, certainly.

Police identify man who beat toddler
 

From here:

I feel an individual would have been justified in shooting him.

The guy had to have been high. Even in the worst uncontrollable rage imaginable, who keeps beating something long after it's dead, especially after a police helicopter lands right next to you?

someone who says it is a demon.:mad:

I think they should bring him back to life and kill him again.