Last night, I was watching the late-night news when the station ran footage of a woman taking her daughter to the car and then punching the little girl in the face at least a dozen times. She did look around first to see if anyone was looking, but she was unaware that a security camera caught the whole thing on tape. The police in Mishawaka, Indiana are now looking for this woman and child so they can prosecute the woman and get the child to a hospital. They’re also concerned that if this charming lady is willing to beat the crap out of her daughter in public, she’ll do worse in private.
It seems that this woman was trying to return some things to a department store and was refused the refund and was asked to leave. After leaving the store, she took her daughter back to their car, put her in the carseat and then started beating her. The tape did get the woman’s face and the license number of the car, but after the police located her family, the family became uncooperative. The cops want to charge the woman with felony battery and if the family doesn’t start cooperating, there may be charges in there for them.
What pisses me off is that this woman chose to take her frustrations out on a powerless four-year-old. A four-year-old can’t fight back, at least not effectively. And I’d love to find out what this child “did” to deserve this kind of abuse. And the woman knew that what she was doing was wrong, because she looked around to see if anyone was around!
I hope they throw the book at her and her family for protecting this waste of flesh. I know, she’s probably got some sort of mental illness, but that doesn’t excuse abusing a child.
I don’t understand how anyone could do this to a defenceless child… a child can’t fight back, and can’t understand any of it… can’t reason their way around mom’s behavior. Hell, I can’t really understand why anyone would do this to an adult, let alone a child.
At this child’s age, the association between mom’s love and survival is the central point in life. What must this child be thinking? She’s 4, for crissakes.
There are no words to describe people like this woman OR the family that refuses to cooperate. I don’t care who you are, who your loved ones are, or where your loyalties lie - when it comes to the survival, safety and well-being of a child, everything else can go to hell.
What a depressing story.
I hope they find the mother and child (and the other children)… and that everyone gets the help they so badly need.
I’ve been seeing the videotape on the morning news. It really is horrific. At one point, it looks like she’s shaking or strangling the child! They also had a still photo of the little girl. She’s apparently about 4 years old. In the photo, which looks like a still from videotape, she looks scared!
Wherever you are, little girl, there are people who are looking out for you, and who will try to get you out of this.
I stayed up to watch the news when they showed a brief clip of this brutal attack to this child…There was NO denying that she looked to make certain no one was watching,a manner she has gotten used to no doubt.When the "uncooperative"family gets in the “MOTHER’S” face for larger situations than “not recieving a refund” you can imagine what happens to the child then…I shiver to think !! Does the apple fall far from the tree?
Yeah, we’re showing during our news broadcast as well. That point where it looks like she’s shaking the kid looks to me like she’s hitting the kid with her own hands.
What the fuck is wrong with some people? This woman should be locked up and thrown into a prison with a lot of very big women. They don’t take too kindly to child abusers. I’d love to think that the state will also take the child away and put her in a loving home, but with another story break recently about a foster father murdering his two year old son, I’m even skeptical about that.
They should establish and island for children full of giant ball pits and slides where they can play and just be kids without fear of adults beating the shit out of them and abusing them. Likewise, there should be an island for pieces of shit like this lady where they’re repeatedly poked with pitch forks and left in stuffy cars.
Its been shown all morning.
At least they I.D’d her.
I can’t imagine the family not getting charged with at least obstruction of justice and endandgering a child.
I assume the woman has changed her appearance. if not, she’ll be found soon.
The sad thing is, is IF the fucked up court system takes the little girl away from the mother they will turn around and give her to the mother’s family.
I have about zero faith in the system that supposedly protects children.
What happened? Did they release the videotape too soon? How did she know that the police where after her?
They had Her name, license plate, where her ‘family’ lived, her picture and type and color of car. She’d be in the clink if she didn’t know she was on tape.
OKay, please don’t misunderstand me here, but there’s another angle to this that bugs me.
No doubt this woman is wrong, and I hope she is caught and made to feel the consequences of her actions. And hopefully the girl is okay and can be taken care of.
However, the grim reality is that this sort of thing happens every day, all over America. And nobody, especially CNN, gives much of a damn then. “Woman Beats Child” wouldn’t make CNN’s headlines, but because there’s a juicy video of it happening, we can happily feed America’s insatiable urge for “reality TV” vouyeurism. We can get premium subscribers to sign up to see every horrific frame of the beating. And, while we’re doing this, we (we being CNN right now) can wring our hands and shake our heads and talk about how tragic it all is. That is, until the next hot hot video comes along.
The sickness here doesn’t end with Ms. Toogood, in my opinion.
What in the hell is going on with the girl’s family? Just how the fuck is it that they are being (or able to be) uncooperative? Ifn’ the police knock on your door w/ video footage of your daughter beating her child, are you given the option to cooperate? Seriously, can you really say, “Silly me, I seem to have misplaced her address! Well I’ll keep looking for it and give you a ring if I come across it. Bye bye.”?
Lego,
I strongly disagree with you. I hardly think anyone thought the videotape of what happened was “juicy” or was at all a “hot video”.
Most of us, fortunately, are not exposed to child abuse on a daily basis and are shaken to see such a brutal beating. Also:
Most beatings do not take place in a public place where the attacker is easily identified. I believe they are showing the video not to make money or titilate, but to help find this psycho woman and get that child away from her.
I agree that the sickness doesn’t end with Ms. Toogood, but be careful about pointing the finger at people who are commenting on a horrible tape that they saw that was NOT “reality TV”. It was a brutal reality, unfortunately.
I think that mainstream media generally shows terrible judgement in the dirty laundry they air (see the lyrics to “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley- they’re so true), but in this case it is justified, as it may help track this nutjob down. It’s one thing to say “Help us find this abuser who still has a child with her that is in danger” and “Hey, look at this shit- help us find this woman”. I know for me, that video literally made me sick to my stomach, and if I were in the area I’d be keeping a close eye out for her.
I do not think that expressing outrage over a particular beating necessarily ignores the reality of a large number of these incidents.
Let’s take kidnapping for instance. Lots going on. How about CNN not air any of them? That way it doesn’t seem like they don’t care about the other children. Even IF they could save at least one child.
I just don’t see the point of banging my head against the wall about CNN’s motives on this.
The closest I have to a child is partial custody a dog (long story), and the idea of hitting even a defenseless dog who loves me, let alone a child, in misplaced frustation makes me physically ill. When I’m at my most upset (like yesterday, when I got laid off from the place I’ve worked for 12 years) the LAST thing on my mind is to hurt someone
There is something so deeply wrong with these people I can’t really understand.
CNN is reporting that Ms. Toogood’s sister has been arrested for failing to report child abuse. The sister was with Ms. Toogood and is the other woman on the tape. Also, Ms. Toogood has apparently made arrangements to turn herself in tomorrow. CNN’s story.
The little girl is still with her, however, and police and prosecutors want to find her as soon as possible to get her medical attention.
This woman should be shot. Plain and simple. No tax dollars paying to give her food that she doesn’t deserve. No chance of here getting out and finding the child again much less having another one to tramuatize. No torturing no beatings, just one shot.
I’m absolutely sure that there will be a family out there to show the girl how a mother is supposed to be. Not a abusive waste of life, but a loving caring individual willing to do anything for her child. I’m lucky enough to know people like that.
What a depressing story.