Child Beaten to Death in Front of Motorists

[Big Sarge]

What would you have done if you had seen this unfold?

06/15/2008 18:24:50 EST Police: Officer kills man who beat child to death

Associated Press:

A 27-year-old man was fatally shot by police as he kicked, punched and stomped a young toddler to death in front of horrified motorists who tried to stop the attack on a dark country road, authorities said.

Investigators on Sunday were trying to establish the relationship between the suspect and the child they say he killed Saturday night. The Stanislaus County coroner said the boy appeared to be between 1 and 2 years old based on his size, according to county sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh.

"It's been a long night of wondering, 'Why?' - not only for the officers and the passers-by who stopped and tried to help out, but for anyone. Why would somebody do this?" Singh said.

Singh said the coroner does not plan to confirm the identities of the suspect and victim until Monday. Because his injuries were so severe, the child will have to be identified through a blood or DNA test, he said.

The suspect had a child's car seat in the back of his four-door pickup truck. The truck caught the attention of an elderly couple at 10:13 p.m. Saturday because it was stopped in the two-lane road facing the wrong direction, Singh said.

As they got closer, the couple saw the man brutally beating the toddler behind his truck and throwing the child on the ground, according to Singh. Two or three other cars stopped, an unusual number to be passing through the remote area surrounded by a dairy, a cow pasture, a cornfield and a farmhouse, he said.

"What we got from witnesses is he was punching, slapping, kicking, stomping, shaking," Singh said. "They tried to intervene and get involved, but their efforts really didn't have an effect. The suspect was engaged in what he was doing. He just pushed them off and went back to it."

A sheriff's helicopter responding to emergency calls from the area landed in a cow pasture at 10:19 p.m. carrying a Modesto police officer who shot the man to death after he refused an order to stop beating the child, Singh said.

Paramedics tried to resuscitate the toddler, who was not breathing when they arrived. The boy was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No children within the dead boy's age range have been reported kidnapped or missing in Stanislaus County, Singh said.

The incident happened on Bradbury Road about 10 miles west of Turlock, a city located about halfway between Sacramento and Fresno.

[glatt]

There are fucked up people in this world.

[Cloud]

cry, throw up, take the image to my grave.

unless I had a shovel or something in my car to hit him with, there's probably nothing I, just like the passersby, could have done.

[lookout123]

if there were multiple other motorists i have a hard time understanding why they didn't stop him. maybe they were all 103 year old wheelchair bound women, but if not then i don't see much excuse for not doing something... anything.

[Clodfobble]

It sounds like they were trying. Ultimately the guy had to be shot before he would stop. Obviously this was a fit of rage, not some premeditated thing.

A six-minute response time out in the middle of nowhere is pretty good for the cops, though it was clearly far too late.

[lookout123]

i guess so. i'm sure you're right. I just have a hard time believing that a couple people with tire irons couldn't distract him.

[glatt]

As cold as it might sound, I have a duty to my own children not to get myself killed in an altercation with a crazed stranger. I'd try to get him to stop, but I wouldn't risk my life doing it. I think it was clear to everyone there that a bullet was the only thing to stop him.

[HungLikeJesus]

If that was Texas, at least one of those motorists would have had a gun.

[Cloud]

and if they had, would it be a justified shooting in the eyes of the law, I wonder?

[Drax]

Originally Posted by lookout123

wheelchair bound

You just had to go there.

But serious, I don't know if I could've done anything really, except imagine him being ripped apart in a Jigsaw Killer-type "game."

[Big Sarge]

Yes it would have been justifiable homicide. Deadly force can be used to halt an assault likely to cause death or serious bodily injury.

[lookout123]

Originally Posted by Drax

You just had to go there.

But serious, I don't know if I could've done anything really, except imagine him being ripped apart in a Jigsaw Killer-type "game."

sorry drax, that was insensitive. I didn't mean it the way it appears in black and white.

[zippyt]

I probley would have ended up in Jail for Killing , or at LEAST Beating the Liveing SHIT out of this Whacko !!!!!

[Drax]

Originally Posted by lookout123

sorry drax, that was insensitive. I didn't mean it the way it appears in black and white.

Fuggetaboudit. No big. Just watch it next time. J/K.

[Aliantha]

There's no way I could stand by and let something like that happen. I'd be of the mindset that if someone was assaulting my child, I'd want someone...anyone to do everything they could to stop it, so I'd be doing the same for this child.

This just horrifys me. That it can happen in front of several witnesses. I think the tyre iron would be a good option. So would a club lock, which I know can make an excellent weapon (or method of intimidation in my case).