I saw a woman drag a child to a restaurant bathroom and beat him with a belt! What else could I have done?

Question

Yesterday, I was trying to have a nice lunch with my husband, when a young woman dragged her 8 year old son to the public bathroom in the restaraunt, with a belt in hand. She had to go down a hall and through two doors, and I could still hear her beating him with the belt when she started. When I got up to go in the bathroom, I found her whipping him with his pants down in the middle of the bathroom...I did not know what my rights were as far as contacting the police...and the manager was not there at the time, as I requested for them to be spoken to or asked to leave. I lost my appetiete. Why do people think it is ok to humilate and beat a child? My thoughts are, if she does this in public, what does she do at home? And what could an 8 year old have done to deserve this? I have a child close to his age, and have never found the need to punish him in this manner, in order to get my point across. Is there anything I can do now to report this person? I was to upset to think...

Answer 1

Filmed it and put it on YouTube.

Answer 2

You should have contacted the police when you saw her dragging the child..You can get into trouble if you don't let police know someone is being abused..."You could go to jail for not informing the police to"

Answer 3

This is outrageous and is assault on this child.. I would of took the belt off her and beat her with it myself!!! See how it feels.. the poor kid.. no matter what someone does.. they do no deserve this sort of attack!.. It sickens me!

I cannot believe that people still think its acceptable to punish children in this way.. I thought we were a civilized world... clearly this person demonstrated that we are not.. I hope the kid is ok.

Answer 4

It's a personnel matter and none of your business.

Answer 5

Things like that make my blood boil. I was in the lobby of a hotel last year- a family that was not from the US walked in. The father proceeded to slap and push around his daughter, who appeared to be about 6 or 7. The worst part was that the child's mother was encouraging him to do it!! He drug her onto the escalator and began to slap her across the face again. I had the same thought you did- if he's doing this in public, what's gonna happen to this poor child when they're alone in the hotel room?

I told hotel security and they went to check it out. I'm not sure what happened when they went up there. I'm not sure if there's anything you can do, but I would definitely call the police and talk to them.

It's scary to get involved when you see something like this, but a child is helpless to defend themselves. They need someone to step in and say "This is not okay. You don't deserve this." and remove them from the situation.

Answer 6

I would have called the police.  There's a big difference between disiplining a naughty child and child abuse.  I have 7 kids and I've never seen the need to beat any of them up.  That makes me sick!!

Answer 7

BEATING THE CHILD   REALLY?  

That's the problem we have in this country now .  NO DISCIPLINE  for kids.  That's why little Johnny is outside stealing your car radio ,CD's and anything else he can find in your car while your inside whacking away at the keys of your computer.  His Mom or Dad either one never jerked those pants down and whipped him a good time or two with a belt.  Children need to know what lines not to cross or there are no lines that they won't cross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

at least you cared enough to talk about it,,

is this woman seems as his mother ?

am not sure where you live but beating a child never been fear or needed thing, but sadly not every where they have rule for it.

if your living in somewhere have child servers, try to call them if you saw the same thing

trying to talk to mother mostly won't help, be coz shes oready angry ,, just call and let them deal with her

Answer 9

You should have called the police immediately and let them deal with it. This is assault, plain and simple. As you said, you wonder what she does to the child at home?. The police no doubt would have contacted child protective services and they would have done a complete investigation. You had a chance to help a child and did not. I can understand your reluctance not to get involved but there are times when getting involved is the only correct solution. You were a witness and you can still report her but it will do no good if she can't be identifired.

Answer 10

you should have reported it why didnt you that child could be dead now because you didnt stop it when you could have

Answer 11

You should have called the police, rather than waiting for someone else to do it.  For crying out loud.

Answer 12

How do you know the child is 8? You should report it to the police

Answer 13

omg i feel like crying.

thats child abuse that b.!tch was doing to her son

you should have reported it or stopped her.

the child has right and what she was doing was against his rights

she is a fuc.k.!ng b.!tch.

poor child.no kid no matter what deserves this

Answer 14

Report it to the police .. beating a child is a crime. If there is CCTV in or around the restaurant then the police could trace her. Also there should be card reciepts from the restauant etc.

No one should get away with child abuse.

Answer 15

Our society has got to the point where we let children do as they please,as they grow older it gets harder and harder to keep them in line. There are alot of things that an 8 year old could do to desearve a whipping. When I was 8 I intentionally shot out a neighbors car window with a BB gun. My father didn't put me in timeout, he took a belt to my A$$. When I screwed up I was punished, not ABUSED as so many people now a days like to call it.There are children in our streets committing murder.It is my opinion that if these children had been given a few belts across their A$$ then they would know right from wrong.

Answer 16

Hopefully she turned the belt on you!

Believe it or not, corporal punishment is not illegal, and is an effective parenting tool.

The fact that you don't like it is not a reflection upon society or the rights of other parents.

IF you are a teacher, you would already know this.  IF you are a teacher and cannot handle yourself in a crisis.... you should stop teaching.

Answer 17

i feellyk crying too..........

talk to the manager and find if there is a CCTV.

put it on the net and media, that will teach that ****************************************... never to hit a child again.

if i was you, ill go and ask what he did, then give the ****************************************... a slap

Answer 18

That is so terrible. I'm a mother of three, and personally I would have snatched the belt out of her hands and dragged her to the middle of the restaurant and gave her an @ss beating she would never forget. I have no tolerance for child abuse physical or mental. I can't even raise my voice to my children in public without feeling like the worst mom ever!!!!

Answer 19

As spanking a child is not a crime, beating one is. It sounds like she was beating this child.That is uncalled for no matter what.I would have had a waiter or someone that was working there call the police.Like you said there is no telling what she does to him in the privacy of their own home.You could still call the police and maybe the woman paid with a credit card or something so they would be able to find out who she is.Good Luck.

Answer 20

you might want to call cps

Answer 21

Unfortunately, there is not much that you can do, unless you were able to get her details and report her to child protective services. Also, it really depends on where the law stands in your state. Where I live, it is legal to spank a child, and even though it is seen as a fine line between spanking and physical abuse, she may not have crossed that line in the eyes of the law. It does sound excessive from your description, but parents are allowed to spank their children to discipline them.

Answer 22

omg if i had seen that i would have gone mental and started beater her with my belt to see how she likes it (she couldnt have pressed charges because its illegal to hit your child in that way). unless you know the women or where she lives then theres not much you cant do except ask if the people working at the restraunt see her in there restraunt often. that is a disgusting sick thing to do to your child.

Answer 23

call the restaurant...see if they have camera's that recorded that day...If nothing else you will get where she dragged him to the bathroom and the eight year old screams would be recorded too

Answer 24

I would definitely go into the police station and report it. The longer you wait the less his wounds will show...although it sounds like maybe this was not the first for her to flip out and does it often...who knows. If you don't at least go in (or call) and tell them what you saw, what time where ...it will be hard to live with the knowledge that you didn't do anything to help this little one.....What is the worst that can happen? Do it!

I just wanted to add a note to Stephanie above..I agree children need to be disciplined. When we grew up we got "spankings" as they call them and where put in line when we mis behaved....let me tell you, it made us respectable adults with manners. I did the same for mine. My kids don't steal, they are respectful and they have manners...none of us are perfect but discipline is key. And then there's out of control behavior like this woman in the rest room. I would have told her to stop or I will report her. I'm not afraid to speak my mind, especially when I see c**p like this...