Father Taped Football Jersey To Kid, Cops Not Amused

1. biltmore
   January 20th, 2008 at 3:04 am

   Wow, what a douchebag. He looks like one too!

2. Monica
   January 20th, 2008 at 7:48 am

   "could the wife just reported him so he could get in trouble?"

   Erm, do you think maybe the wife reported him because he was abusing their son?

   I know it's a long shot but I can't help but consider it as a possibility

3. Edie
   January 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am

   "...just... so he could get in trouble?"

   The guy used tape to restrain his son. His 7-year old son. That's abusive. If he's able to do that to a kid, don't you think he's capable of retaliating against his wife for reporting the abuse?

   I'd say she was damn brave to report him.

   What I find incredible is that he was charged with "disorderly conduct" instead of child abuse. $186 is a wink and a nod as far as I am concerned. He should spend time in jail for what he did to that kid.

   Of course, he's free now, and pissed. The wife and the kid are in danger, IMO.

   And you think she reported him just to get him in trouble? Rethink, Alex.

4. Maya
   January 20th, 2008 at 10:08 am

   Well said, Edie. I LOVE this website and check it religiously. But that editorial comment needs to be addressed. I couldn't have said it better.

5. nick
   January 20th, 2008 at 11:21 am

   look at the whole picture. he was probably just kidding around, and his son was probably laughing the whole time, married to some wako that needed some attention because her husband and son were watching the game paying no mind to her.

6. Kevin
   January 20th, 2008 at 11:58 am

   I have to side with the ladies on this one.

   “could the wife just reported him so he could get in trouble?”... the only thing worse than sexism is grammatically awkward sexism.

7. Alex
   January 20th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

   Wow, that was bad! Sorry for the mangled wordings, guys. This and most of my other posts were written in the middle of a sleep deprived night. (I'm on night duty with the new baby) Not that I'm all that proficient in English to begin with. It's fixed now (hopefully).

   Child abuse is a serious matter. I get that. And I also get that abuse doesn't have to be the physical kind to cause harm to a child.

   BUT, if you read the article, you'll see that there were also "other domestic issues." This is a red flag for me that there may be more to this story.

   One of the easiest way to get your spouse in trouble, in the heat of a domestic altercation, is to call the cops on him or her. One of my neighbors did this to each other when they were fighting. Over stupid stuff - and the cops knew it, but they had to respond.

   Later on, both used these incidents as weapons against each other in the divorce and the child custody proceeding.

   I wouldn't be surprised if this were the case here too. Note: "Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey said there wasn't enough evidence against the father to support felony charges. She said there is no physical injury to the child and that there is no evidence to warrant further evaluation of any emotional damage."

8. Tempscire
   January 20th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

   Wow. Arrested on the suspicion of false imprisonment.

   False. Imprisonment.

   Wow. I know it was dismissed, but that seems like such a trumped up charge. You could get the same for grounding a kid to his room and locking the door with that logic.

   Of course, no one here knows all the details, but for skepticism's sake, is not possible the wife is vindictively trying to set up a case against the husband for use in divorce court? She could be playing on the common sympathies today that lead people to automatically suspect a man of wrong-doing, particularly in the arena of child abuse.

9. Gawdess
   January 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

   It still strikes me as an inappropriate editorial statement - it really does.
   I will say upfront that having been an in house volunteer at a women's shelter for 3 1/2 years colours my view. I know that.

10. ted
    January 20th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    Geez. Let's crucify Alex. This ain't a newspaper, you know. He's allowed to have his opinion. Maybe it was a little injudicious of him to speculate, but...

    The article implies that the husband and wife are not living together. The wife filed a restraining order to keep him from seeing the children.

    It sounds like there's an ongoing situation, and that the wife could very possibly have exaggerated or misconstrued the situation. That's not a sexist thing to say.

    All in all, tying up the kid is still a weird thing to do.

11. Lea
    January 21st, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    There is no excuse for tying up a child. And you cannot assume the kid was laughing right along with it, nick. But alex has a point, that being that when two people are fighting, they look for the smallest things to cause trouble for each other.
    BUT even if this is the first incident (or first reported), this type of behavior can and will escalate.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT