(June 16, 2008)--Authorities in Stanislaus County, Calif. were trying to figure out Monday why a man beat a toddler to death Saturday night on a country road.
Horrified motorists say they came upon a stopped pickup truck facing the wrong direction.
They say a young man was brutally beating a child behind his truck and throwing the toddler on the ground.
Witnesses told authorities that when they tried to stop the man, he just pushed them away and continued the beating.
A sheriff's helicopter arrived and a police officer shot the man to death.
Authorities are trying to find out the relationship between the man and the child.
A sheriff's spokesman says the toddler was so badly beaten it will have to be identified through blood or DNA testing.
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