Officer kills man who beat child to death - This is just terrible.

United States
June 15, 2008 10:10pm CST
This is one of the worse stories I've read in a long time. Can someone please tell me what is going on in the minds of some people. Since the man who committed this crime is already dead, there is no use saying what should be done to him. However, what do you think we can do to prevent this type of thing from happening again. Here is the story. Sun Jun 15, 7:35 PM ET TURLOCK, Calif. - Police killed a 27-year-old man as he kicked, punched and stomped a toddler to death despite other people's attempts to stop him on a dark, country road, authorities said. Investigators on Sunday were trying to establish the relationship between the suspect and the child they say he killed Saturday night. The Stanislaus County coroner said the boy appeared to be between 1 and 2 years old based on his size, according to county sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh. "It's been a long night of wondering, 'Why?' — not only for the officers and the passers-by who stopped and tried to help out, but for anyone. Why would somebody do this?" Singh said. Singh said the coroner does not plan to confirm the identities of the suspect and victim until Monday. Because his injuries were so severe, the child will have to be identified through a blood or DNA test, he said. The suspect had a child's car seat in the back of his four-door pickup truck. The truck caught the attention of an elderly couple at 10:13 p.m. Saturday because it was stopped in the two-lane road facing the wrong direction, Singh said. As they got closer, the couple saw the man brutally beating the toddler behind his truck and throwing the child on the ground, according to Singh. Two or three other cars stopped, an unusual number to be passing through the remote area surrounded by a dairy, a cow pasture, a cornfield and a farmhouse, he said. "What we got from witnesses is he was punching, slapping, kicking, stomping, shaking," Singh said. "They tried to intervene and get involved, but their efforts really didn't have an effect. The suspect was engaged in what he was doing. He just pushed them off and went back to it." A sheriff's helicopter responding to emergency calls from the area landed in a cow pasture at 10:19 p.m. carrying a Modesto police officer who shot the man to death after he refused an order to stop beating the child, Singh said. Paramedics tried to resuscitate the toddler, who was not breathing when they arrived. The boy was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No children within the dead boy's age range have been reported kidnapped or missing in Stanislaus County, Singh said. The incident happened on Bradbury Road about 10 miles west of Turlock, a city located about halfway between Sacramento and Fresno.
5 people like this
13 responses
@clei914 (28)
• United States
16 Jun 08
Why wouldn't they do more to stop the guy? If there were a few people there, they could have easily tackled him or something. If someone would have just ran and launched themselves at the guy, someone could have pulled the child away and put the child in the car to take off with him before more damage could have been done. The child might still be alive if they would have done something like that.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
17 Jun 08
It's easy enough to say that 'they might have tackled him easily'. A man in a rage like that on a dark country road would be difficult enough to handle even for two or three people trained in unarmed combat. Even the (single) police officer did not want to risk tackling him alone ... so he shot him.
@Amberina (1541)
• United States
16 Jun 08
Why didn't people tackle the guy? and pull the child away to safety? If I had been there I would have said hey someone grab the kid I'm gonna run him over with my car. I just don't get why people didn't do more to help the kid. Someone could have picked up a weapon and hit the guy over the head. I agree with the above response something has been left out of this story it just doesn't add up.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jun 08
I'm not sure why they didn't tackle the guy and pull the child to safety. More information will be coming out shortly to explain there actions. For now you can get more information at: http://www.kcra.com/video/16614790/index.html NBC TV's local affiliate in Sacramento, California Lloyd
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
16 Jun 08
I agree with you, someone pull that child to safety then slam that car right into him breaking his legs and saving that poor little child's life.
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
16 Jun 08
Well I'm glad the police shot the SOB! As for the child... thats just an awful story and no child should have to live with that much abuse... As for the other drivers... I don't know if the man was just so involved in beating his child and was on a ram-page and people were scared to step in, but all I know is I would of done everything in my power to stop the man... I would of jumped him or got a few others to help... I'm sure it would of took 2 others to get the man to stop, even if jumping on top of him was the way... I would of done something...
1 person likes this
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
16 Jun 08
Hi Lloyd, this story is awful. I'll never understand how someone can do something like that to a child. I wish that group of people had been able to stop him and save that child's life.
• United States
16 Jun 08
Hello Howard. Long time,no see. This definately is an awful story. It just shows you how evil some people can be. I don't know why the other people weren't able to save the child's life. Here is the link to the television news story. http://www.kcra.com/video/16614790/index.html NBC TV's local affiliate in Sacramento, California Lloyd
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
16 Jun 08
You know Lloyd it getting to the point where more and more people go home after work and lock themselves in and don't want to go out any where. I am in a big city, crime is high and I am seeing more and more of this happening. Too many crazy people out there.
• United States
16 Jun 08
I know what you mean Howard. I don't live in a big city, but yet there are places I won't go after it gets dark. It didn't used to be like that, but times have changed for the worse.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
16 Jun 08
Why couldnt those people stop that man from killing the child, was he a huge person, something does not add up here. he just pushed them off, myG why did not one person grab that child and pull it to safety. it sounds like there were enough people to have overtaken that man, so why did they not do so? So maybe two people could grabthe man and let the other person rescue the child?: again something here does' not add up. something has been left out of this news item.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jun 08
I'm not sure why the people there couldn't stop the 27 year old man from killing the child. I don't know if anything was left out of this story, but you can see the news telecast at the following link: http://www.kcra.com/video/16614790/index.html NBC TV's local affiliate in Sacramento, California Lloyd
• China
16 Jun 08
if i am that officer, i prefer to kill that man. children are the future of the world and what we should do is to cultivate them to be qualified talents.
1 person likes this
• United States
17 Jun 08
In response #21 to discussion, "owlwings" has posted an update to this story. You can read more at: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1015937.html I can't believe this story only gets worse. This is such a tradegy. Lloyd
@angelface23 (2494)
• United States
16 Jun 08
I read this this morning. It almost made me cry. I was just shocked and saddened by this story. How couldn't anyone get him off this kid? I would like to find out more details like what the relationship between man and child was? I am glad the cops killed him.
• United States
17 Jun 08
In response #21 to discussion, "owlwings" has posted an update to this story. You can read more at: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1015937.html I can't believe this story only gets worse. This is such a tradegy. Lloyd
@subha12 (18441)
• India
16 Jun 08
i guess the world has gone insane. there are so many things that are happening each day. we do not know why people commit these crimes?there is no certain explanation. we can name few like proper counsellings and all. But all these do not help. there are many deep root causes that I think we are still unable to find.
• United States
16 Jun 08
Even though humans have evolved in so many ways, it sometimes seem as if people sometimes revert back to basic preditory behavior. Do you think that some people just might be wired to kill like some animal species? I'm starting to really wonder why people do some of thing they do. Lloyd
@rsa101 (38148)
• Philippines
17 Jun 08
This is just odd. I think the man is not in his right mind at all. Of all the people he could hurt a defenseless toddler is the least of the thing that he can hurt. I just hope this man could be identified and the identity of the child could at least be known so that we could find the mother of this unfortunate child.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
17 Jun 08
I am certain that the case will be fully investigated and the details splashed all over the local news.
• United States
17 Jun 08
Oh no, this makes me so sad! How could anyone have the heart to do this to a little child. Oh my gosh! This is awful, it really does make you wonder what exactly does go on in people's minds sometimes. Was it the way they were raised? Their personalities? Something that happened to them? I just don't understand, and I'm not going to try to. If the family loved this child, I wish them much sympathy!
@sunkissed (4330)
• United States
16 Jun 08
Oh, this is just terriable.What in the world is getting into the people in this world today. I can not for the life of me see how anyone could ever do such a terriable thing to a little helpless child.This man must have had mental health issues.I do not know why this man would ever have a child like this alone with him in the first place, surley people had to see he was not wrapped too tight.
• United States
16 Jun 08
This is terrible. The man was 27 years old. Nothing has been mentioned of his mental capacity. Hopefully more information will come out soon. Maybe something will come up that will help to prevent this type of thing from happening again. Lloyd
• United States
16 Jun 08
This is horrible how could that man do that to a helpless child? Things like this make me angry for they have no right to do such a thing at all. Those people that tried to get him to stop they should have had something to hit him w/ to distract him while someone ran to grab the injured beaten child. I hope they find whom this child belonged to for he must have had a mother and get some infomation from her or anyone that knew this man and child of why this happend. My heart and prayers go out to the family who have lost a son whom they loved and may god with them in their time of grieveing.
• United States
17 Jun 08
In response #21 to discussion, "owlwings" has posted an update to this story. You can read more at: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1015937.html I can't believe this story only gets worse. This is such a tradegy. Lloyd
@bontheka (65)
• Hong Kong
16 Jun 08
I'm a mother to two little boys under the age of 4. It makes me sick to hear of something like this. Why did the coward have to vent his rage on the poor, defenceless child? If he hated the baby so much, it would have been better if he'd just put a bullet to the baby's head and killed the child at once instead of abusing him like that. I too am keen to find out why the passers-by couldn't do more to stop the monster.