Wal-Mart shopper charged with slapping woman's crying child

Roger Stephens, 61, had warned the child’s mother, Sonya Mathews, that if she didn’t quiet down the child, he would do it for her. After the mother failed to act, Stephens came up to them and slapped the child several times in the face. (CBSAtlanta.com)

Comments

[LimeGreenLizard]

Get off my lawn!

[Brewman2]

My Hero!!!!! Ok, maybe not but parents need to get control of their children. I really do not want to hear them and be subjected to their temper tantrums. If they can't behave in public, don't bring them out.

[RockyMtnMac]

Wow! This pisses me off. I guarantee if someone slapped my kid in the face, they would lose an arm.
What if the kid was crying because she had an earache? How f*cking cruel can this guy be?
I would have gone off if I would have seen this happen to anyones kid! I have no problem with spanking. But that is not what happened here at all.

[buddy]

children are like prostitutes, you should never slap them in the face

[Mark]

Brewman2 - you don't have children, I presume?

[Mark]

he looks like a dick

[NitroPress]

He looks like Walter Matthau on a bad day. Playing a dick.

[buddy]

my first thought was that he looked like pete rose

[RockyMtnMac]

An old, grouchy Harrison Ford.

[johnjohn]

Wow, this guy has some real "glower-power" going on. But, since it was in Stone Mountain GA, we can forgive some squinting, as Mr. Stephens is probably unused to viewing light without the aid of his white hood.

[Torgo]

Even Hawkeye Pierce didn't go that far.

[kevy]

That's who I thought he looked like RMM. Let me at 'im.

[d'ep]

Torgo, LOL! That one took me by surprise!

[lester]

brewman, the way you teach a child not to have a tantrum in public is by not responding to one when they do.

[Brewman2]

I do have children and they are well behaved in public. If they are not behaved, I pack them up and we go home.

The thought of teaching children not to act up in public by ignoring them is bunk!!! It doesn't work. And besides, why should everyone else have to listen to your crying screaming child while you "teach" them? It is just plain inconsiderate of others.

[Tank]

I suppose, in the evil light of the Knife-freak and his wife, this worthless dried out piece of crap seems pretty harmless.

But if you ask me, a perfect stranger comes up and slaps a TWO-YEAR-OLD child across the face, that guy is garbage, and a nice 2-3 year sentence for child abuse is exactly what he deserves.

Well, a serious beating, some broken ribs, and people slapping him across the face as hard as they can every time he goes out in public is what he deserves, but in a society ruled by law, three years in prison would be an appropriate substitute.

[Duck Woodiedick]

"Come on, kids, we're goin' to Walmart."

"But Daddy. I don't WANNA get hit!"

- Bill Engvall

Also, for a REAL hoot, check out http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/ .

[pms]

DarN!!! Too late to sterilize Brewman after he proved to be an idiot and sterilization-worthy in one sentence.

I'm with you RockyMtnMac....this guy wouldn't have been conscious when the Walmart security got to him if that was my kid. Of course, I would have given the guy the courtesy of a warning after he warned me that he would quiet down my kid.

[pms]

"Come on, kids, we're goin' to Walmart."

"But Daddy. I don't WANNA get hit!"

- Bill Engvall

Now that there is funny, I don't care who you are.

[PoeRaven]

Nicely put Tank. I agree 100%

[oldewave]

Thank you, Duck; that was a glimpse into middle America i may never forget (no matter how hard i try...).

[pms]

Yeah Brewman, you tell em....I bet you beat your children good and hard so's that when you leave the trailer they don't make a darn peep. you cotton-pickin hippies and your non-violent teachin is bunk.

PS- I hate to hear a kid freaking out in a store as much as anyone, but if that acting out is ignored at home it wouldn't happen in a store. If the kid gets a cookie evey time he screams at home he sure as heck will act out in public to get what he wants.

[Brewman2]

Don't have to beat my kids. They respect adults. All you bleeding hearts who think you can have a rational conversation with a toddler are 100% screwed up.

Take a look of how kids acted towards adults 20 years ago to how kids act today. Kids have no respect for anyone. This is the "Me" generation.

[RockyMtnMac]

Wait a minute! The story said the little girl was crying. Not having a tantrum.

[Lou Sussler]

The article didn't say if she stopped crying or not.

[robp]

It's having some problems right now but thanks for the link for people of walmart. Ha.

[Phranqlin]

Yes, it is best not to tolerate any sort of crying in children. Showing empathy towards others is the thin edge of the wedge that leads down the slippery slope towards compassion and understanding ... and we can't have that, now, can we?

[sometimesilie]

"Take a look of how kids acted towards adults 20 years ago to how kids act today. Kids have no respect for anyone. This is the "Me" generation."

If the way 20 year-olds are treating their superiors today is any indication- and by 'superiors' I mean anyone with a grain of sense or lick of common courtesy- than they probably would look very similar. .

My parents instilled the fear of a righteous ass whooping in me. Not when I was two, but when as soon as I'd been around long enough to know full well the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. That's not abuse. I only got two whoopings and deserved both of them. Heck, I deserved a lot more than that. That's what more people need to do with their exalted precious snowflakes. If I would have started screaming in a public setting we would have left or I would have been "given something to cry about."

Now this guy...he needs a sustained and severe beating. Reason #163 why I could never be a cop. I would have brought this cretin in on my rear bumper.

[sometimesilie]

"Take a look of how kids acted towards adults 20 years ago to how kids act today. Kids have no respect for anyone. This is the "Me" generation."

If the way 20 year-olds are treating their superiors today is any indication- and by 'superiors' I mean anyone with a grain of sense or lick of common courtesy- than they probably would look very similar. .

My parents instilled the fear of a righteous ass whooping in me. Not when I was two, but when as soon as I'd been around long enough to know full well the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. That's not abuse. I only got two whoopings and deserved both of them. Heck, I deserved a lot more than that. That's what more people need to do with their exalted precious snowflakes. If I would have started screaming in a public setting we would have left or I would have been "given something to cry about."

Now this guy...he needs a sustained and severe beating. Reason #163 why I could never be a cop. I would have brought this cretin in on my rear bumper.

[sometimesilie]

And who seriously shops in *Wal-Mart* and expects some sort of a civilized experience?

[Phranqlin]

A 2-year old could be crying in a store for any number of reasons. Including the fact that a scary, miserable old guy just threatened her and her mommy.

[awesome auger]

This tool needs a claw hammer in his glory hole. actually, he needs a sledge hammer up there. asses like this should retire and die.

[LimeGreenLizard]

RMM's point should be well taken by all of you. The article states the child was crying. No mention of a tantrum.

And if it'd been my child, that old fart wouldn't be in court. He'd be in a hosital, or the morgue.

[chryse]

Here's a question--why do people put up with strangers' behavior toward their children that they wouldn't tolerate toward themselves? If some random person shopping in Walmart threatened to hit the mother herself, she could go straight to the police and have him arrested for that. Yet she waits until her child gets hit by this wackjob to report him? I'd be reporting the guy to security or police for even threatening to touch me =or= my child. I'm pretty sure that that in itself is illegal--can't you get a restraining order against people who threaten like that? Never mind outright assault. Ugh.

Slappy had--as does any adult--the freedom and choice to simply walk away from the disturbance; children have to grow into control over their emotional expressions, never mind where they express them. It's pretty simple: An adult who can't control their own public behavior--especially toward children--is obviously out of control and needs to be handled by the law, and is psychosocially impaired and needs retraining.

Like I used to tell my son on the way to school: Behave yourself. Don't behave anyone else.

[kestrelmas]

Agreeing with other commenters on here... when I was a kid, it was either behave in public or we'd pack up and leave. My parents didn't have to bribe us to behave, although if we were "extra" well-behaved, we'd get something small, like candy or a drink.

I've heard screaming children in stores, sometimes across the stores, and just turn the other way, find something else to do, or text a friend to gripe about why I will never breed. I wouldn't haul off and crack a kid across the face, unless the little bratling was on me with a knife and it was self defense.

A two year old losing it in the store was no reason for Mr. McGrumpyPoopyPants to lose it as well.

[Soo]

Only one time in my life as a parent have I continued shopping while one of my kids "fell out." I apologized to everyone as we went by, only bought the shoes one kid needed after a blow-out (everything else was left in the cart with an apology to the cashier), and then promptly left the store.

Any other time they couldn't calm down on their own, I just left the cart and walked out. If *I* can't stand the sound of my kids carrying on, whatever the reason, why would I subject others to it? Also, what they learn is that if they don't control themselves, they don't get anything.

If it was in fact a medical malfunction as suggested by another poster that was causing the problem, shame on the mom for not going to a drug store or grocery store that has a drive-through pharmacy window.

[Navy Chief]

@chryse - "Don't behave anyone else." I LIKE that! Too bad my kids are all adults (at least in the legal sense) now. I'd like to use that on them. Well, grandchildren are still a possibility, I suppose...

[nellagain]

I do not like the way this article and its synopsis was written.

"failed to act" did she? A request to quiet a child is NOT A FARKING COURT ORDER. There is/was no onus, legal or otherwise for the mother to do anything.

The guy committed felony menacing and then battery. It has nothing whatever to do with how children should behave in public (or anywhere else).

[rich]

I have shopped in that very store in Stone Mountain with my boys, and if anyone even looked at my kids funny i would have tossed him into the next aisle through a clothing rack, stood over him and gave him a look that would crap his pants... oh but i live in Long Island, New York, and we don't put up with b.s. like that.
Y'all have a nice day now...

[jojo]

I worked at Walmart for a brief time, and to be honest, took all I could do a lot of the time to not backhand some of these little monsters! Why do folks let their kids act like that. There was a 6 year old that was cussin' her mom in my line. When it was their turn she turned around and started on me. I told her I wasn't her mother, I didn't love her, and that I didn't have to be nice! Apparently she decided from the look on my face and tone of my voice that an ass beatin wasn't impossible, so she shut up. Her mom just looked at me without a word. BE A PARENT AND TAKE RESPONSIBLITY FOR YOUR CHILDREN!

[Tank]

@chryse - "Don't behave anyone else." Good line! I have a 16-year-old who's gonna be rolling her eyes at that one within the month!

That being said, I think you're being unfair to the Mom. According to the article, "Roger [Old Fart P.O.S.] Stephens, 61, of Stone Mountain, had warned the child’s mother, Sonya Mathews, that if she didn’t quiet down the child, he would do it for her."

With that vague of a comment, she probably just figured he was a sonofabitch, and had no way of knowing he'd actually assault her daughter. If she goes to the security guard with that, he'd probably just look around, make sure old guy's at least 2 aisles away, and say "everything looks ok now, Ma'am."

[Marijo Woods]

I like the would'nt slap a prostitute' comment, hey I'm sick,of hearing screaming ill behaved children, they need a spay neauter program. for these idiot's having kid's they do not know how to properly raise. It is the fault of the parant, He should have slapped the mother.

[Aunt kickyourbutt]

See if anyone ever threatens to hit or even hints at having hit my children, I don't think they're going to ever get up off of the floor. And, there is no consoling a 2 year old. The prick who posted first needs to go get sterilized.

[BigNutz]

"Don't have to beat my kids. They respect adults. All you bleeding hearts who think you can have a rational conversation with a toddler are 100% screwed up."

AMEN!

[rickg]

well they say it takes a village to raise a child...maybe not the village idiot though...

[dave]

Yeah, Fredo, uh, brewman. Your kids "respect" adults. And that's really what you want, isn't it? Respect? You're smart, not like people say, and you want respect. What greater way to get "respect" than to walk up and repeatedly slap a two-year-old in the face because she is crying and annoying you? I got your respect, right here.

[Frank Watson]

It would be a good idea to monitor these coments, before someone gets tracked down by the e-mail address and sh*t for threatening children.

[Moose]

This probably isn't real... but it's funny as heck anyway....

This is the message that the Maroochydore High School Queensland staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine.

It came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children's absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children's failing grades changed to passing grades - even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the term and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.

+++

The outgoing message:

Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to all the options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1

To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2

To complain about what we do - Press 3

To swear at staff members - Press 4

To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5

If you want us to raise your child - Press 6

If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7

To request another teacher, for the third time this year - Press 8

To complain about bus transportation - Press 9

To complain about school lunches - Press 0

If you realise this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behaviour, class work, homework and that it's not the teachers' fault for your child's lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!

If you want this in another language, then please move to a country that speaks it.

[Charles Brobst]

They are not your kids.

[Lambiepie]

TWO YEARS OLD
two, as in 2, as in just one year older than 1, as in alive for 2 years and still not talking
TWO