# Not so much RO as bewilderment - child killing story **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 16, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129 "2008-06-16T17:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/1 "2008-06-16T17:34:56Z")
This isn’t an RO style thread for the Pit, just a bewildered “what in the name of pluperfect hell happened here?” Hence, it’s in MPSIMS. If it gets heated, it can go to the Pit. [Story](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/16/MNJT119MI5.DTL&tsp=1) A man pulled over by the side of the road, removed a baby from his truck, and proceeded to beat it to death in front of passersby. He single-mindedly resisted all attempts by the passersby to stop him. It took the police shooting him to stop it, but the baby died at the hospital. What the bloody hell? Does meth or other another drug turn one into an enraged murdering machine, completely insensible of consequences? I am totally at a loss to explain this one. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/2 "2008-06-16T18:02:57Z")
One of the things I always heard about PCP is that it could turn someone into this sort of raging monster, but it was generally presented in Movie-of-the-Week style histrionics. My question is, did none of these passers-by have a tire iron or jack handle? A cracked skull would probably have made it harder for the guy to keep beating the kid. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/3 "2008-06-16T18:11:58Z")
That’s fucked up. Actually very few cars come with a classic tire iron these days. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/4 "2008-06-16T18:24:02Z")
I also think people hope the guy will either take off or change focus to them instead of the kid. Spending time rummaging around in the trunk for a weapon is maybe not as high up on the list as getting in the guy’s face as fast as possible. You don’t go into an encounter figuring that beating him unconscious is the only way to stop the guy. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/5 "2008-06-16T18:29:27Z")
I’m the classic 98-pound-weakling (well, 175-lbs.) but my foot would have found his nuts right quick like. That is so fucked up. And this after seeing one of those WE “Women Behind Bars” stories about a 16-year-old who threw her infact against the wall because it was crying, she felt trapped and her live-in 19-year-old boyfriend came and went in a way that she couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/6 "2008-06-16T18:31:26Z")
Well sure, but after the second or third time you try to tackle the guy and he doesn’t budge, it’s time to escalate. If you don’t have a jack handle, how about a rock from the side of the road? A shoe? A briefcase? Anything. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/7 "2008-06-16T18:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Well sure, but after the second or third time you try to tackle the guy and he doesn’t budge, it’s time to escalate. If you don’t have a jack handle, how about a rock from the side of the road? A shoe? A briefcase? Anything. [/QUOTE] Or grab the baby and run… ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/8 "2008-06-16T18:53:13Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Well sure, but after the second or third time you try to tackle the guy and he doesn’t budge, it’s time to escalate. If you don’t have a jack handle, how about a rock from the side of the road? A shoe? A briefcase? Anything. [/QUOTE] I don’t care how hopped up he is on PCP or whatever, if he’s focusing on the baby and I can get behind him, I’m slapping a choke hole on him (I like the Lion’s Kill (pic [here](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a176/famoussd/rnc-1.jpg), although I suspect some of the..er…choicer aspects of this particular picture are waisted on you Otto. :p). 8-10 seconds later he’ll be unconscious. PCP or no, your brain needs air and blood. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/9 "2008-06-16T18:56:13Z")
I dunno; it seems to me that there are few people in the world who wouldn’t do what it takes to stop someone from beating a baby to death; I think they must have tried as best they could. We can armchair quarterback now, after the fact, but I think it probably happened very fast, and everyone who stopped were in shock and didn’t know what the hell to do. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/10 "2008-06-16T18:59:22Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] I don’t care how hopped up he is on PCP or whatever, if he’s focusing on the baby and I can get behind him, I’m slapping a choke hole on him (I like the Lion’s Kill (pic [here](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a176/famoussd/rnc-1.jpg), although I suspect some of the..er…choicer aspects of this particular picture are waisted on you Otto. :p). 8-10 seconds later he’ll be unconscious. PCP or no, your brain needs air and blood. [/QUOTE] Don’t forget – if it was PCP or meth, he might have been superstrong and agitated, to the people he couldn’t be grabbed or held. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/11 "2008-06-16T19:01:45Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Well sure, but after the second or third time you try to tackle the guy and he doesn’t budge, it’s time to escalate. If you don’t have a jack handle, how about a rock from the side of the road? A shoe? A briefcase? Anything. [/QUOTE] Like a legally carried concealed weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/12 "2008-06-16T19:04:41Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] We can armchair quarterback now, after the fact, but I think it probably happened very fast, and everyone who stopped were in shock and didn’t know what the hell to do. [/QUOTE] Not in my case. I know for a fact that my husband would have killed the guy without hesitation. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/13 "2008-06-16T19:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] (I like the Lion’s Kill (pic [here](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a176/famoussd/rnc-1.jpg), although I suspect some of the..er…choicer aspects of this particular picture are waisted on you Otto. :p). [/QUOTE] I cannot believe that in the first 20 pages of google image results there isn’t a single boy-on-boy lion kill picture to counter you. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/14 "2008-06-16T19:45:26Z")
Just imagine what if someone nearby had shot the guy. Now imagine that the guy was shot and found to have been destroying a doll… ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/15 "2008-06-16T20:05:10Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] One of the things I always heard about PCP is that it could turn someone into this sort of raging monster, but it was generally presented in Movie-of-the-Week style histrionics. [/QUOTE] PCP is kind of rare these days. I’ve only ever known one person who tried it, and that was years ago. That said, it does seem to have some pretty messed-up effects in some individuals. [Here’s](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050325.html) Cecil’s take. [QUOTE=yoyodyne] Like a legally carried concealed weapon. [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: Don’t. Please. Just don’t. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/16 "2008-06-16T20:09:53Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] Does meth or other another drug turn one into an enraged murdering machine, completely insensible of consequences? I am totally at a loss to explain this one. [/QUOTE] The man was quoted as saying the baby was possessed by demons. That sounds to me like the man was completely unaware of the actual world he was in, and reacting as if the world within his mind was the actual reality. I wonder whose baby it was, and why it was with him, and all that kinda stuff. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/17 "2008-06-16T20:29:34Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I cannot believe that in the first 20 pages of google image results there isn’t a single boy-on-boy lion kill picture to counter you. [/QUOTE] Try “rear naked choke,” “hadaka jime” or “mata leão.” Off topic, but the girl in the picture shouldn’t cross her feet. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/18 "2008-06-16T20:36:40Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Just imagine what if someone nearby had shot the guy. Now imagine that the guy was shot and found to have been destroying a doll… [/QUOTE] I must admit I was expecting something like this when I first read about the case (the article I read didn’t reveal whether or not the child was dead at first, just that the man had been shot after an elderly couple reported him assaulting a child). ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/19 "2008-06-16T20:55:21Z")
From the article - > [@](#): > > A man parked his truck on a country road outside Turlock on Saturday night, removed a baby boy from a car seat and then beat the child to death in the street, fighting off passers-by who tried to stop him, until he was gunned down by a police officer whose helicopter landed in a nearby pasture, police said Sunday. > > … > > The Stanislaus County coroner’s office told police that the agency may have to identify the boy through a DNA test because he was beaten beyond recognition. > > … > > Singh said an elderly couple driving along West Bradbury Road just after 10 p.m. made the first 911 call to police, reporting that the suspect’s four-door Toyota pickup truck was parked facing west in the eastbound lane. According to the caller, the suspect was behind the truck, where he was brutally beating the boy. > > … > > The flight officer then ran about 20 yards toward the suspect and, while standing behind the pasture’s fence, ordered him to stop beating the child, who was on the ground, Singh said. It sounds like people tried to do something, but if the guy was already in the process of beating the kid when the first couple reported him, it’s likely that he was alread dead by the time anyone tried to help anyway. I think it’s a little silly to talk about what bystanders _should_ have done. Considering how bizarre and horrible the situation is, I doubt anyone was really thinking clearly. Tackling him might have injured the baby even further, and unless one of the passers-by was Batman, I wouldn’t really expect them to know what else to do at a moment’s notice. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129/20 "2008-06-16T21:30:44Z")
Unfortunately, those of us in the “shoot the sumbitch” camp are tut-tutted by the legions of what-iffers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-ro-as-bewilderment-child-killing-story/453129.md?page=2)