Man tries to help child, gets his ass kicked

Linky

A good Samaritan was mistaken for a kidnapper — and beaten by the parents — in a Florida park after trying to help a lost toddler, police said.

The 2-year-old had become separated from her folks during a softball game on Saturday at Southwest Sports Complex in Lakeland, and was spotted by a man at the park with his friends, according to a police incident report published Sunday.

Believing she was lost, the man asked the child where her parents were and walked around the premises with her in hopes she could point them out.

But when the child's father was alerted by bystanders that his daughter was being led away by a stranger, the well-intentioned act was mistaken for a kidnapping attempt.

"I saw this man with my daughter in his hands walking toward the parking lot. What would you do?" the father told NBC affiliate WFLA in a phone interview. "I wanted to kill him!"

Thinking they were stopping a crime, the father and two friends approached the stranger: As his friends took the toddler away, the father punched the good Samaritan "probably five or six times," he told WFLA.

"I thought he was trying to take my daughter," the protective dad told the station.

In a 911 call released to the media, the mother also admits to hitting the man who was with her daughter, and says she did not immediately believe that the incident was simply a misunderstanding.

Lakeland Police, on the other hand, said they were confident that the man was just trying to help the girl.

"An independent witness who didn't know the family or anybody said they saw him pointing out different males saying 'is that your father?'" Lakeland Police Sgt. Gary Gross said in an interview with WFLA.

Police also said the good Samaritan had no prior criminal history and that they were able to verify that he had been at the park with friends.

"It’s understandable how parents can possibly be upset in a situation involving a lost child. However, this incident truly involved a good Samaritan trying to assist a lost child finding their parents," the police report read.

Despite the man's innocence, several posts were published on social media defaming his character. Family and friends of the toddler posted the man's name, photo, and place of employment online, calling him a "child predator."

No charges have been filed against the parents.

When contacted by WFLA, the good Samaritan declined to comment, citing safety concerns and telling reporters he'd left town with his family.

"This guy is a father, a local businessman, has two children, was trying to help this child but they turned it completely around," Gross told the station, "And that's not right."

Still, when asked whether he believed the man's innocence, the child's father said no.

"No, hell no, I don't," he said over the phone, "Not at all."

_________________________________________________

And this is half the reason people JDGAF.

Anyway, do you think charges should be pressed against the parents? I certainly do. And whoever is defaming him on social media should get scooted before a judge, too.

The man should be compensated by the parents, at the least.

Goodness is badness nowadays for this fucked up society. Let it burn, mind your own buisness than helping someone.

Parents should be charged with assault. What a fucked up story.

Look, from what i read the guy wasn't the smartest of the bunch. You do not move children without making your intention perfectly clear and even then you are better off as a guy to not move a little kid. Let security deal with it, or set stuff in motion with loads of people that are actively searching for there parents so everybody around you know what's going on. And you are not becoming a target.

I personally would ask woman around me to help me out to make it more easier, as a guy doesn't sucker punch a girl to hell and back when his strings get pulled.

Now was he going to do something towards this kid, who knows. The fact still remains is that the dad can't play his own judge. He posted information about this guy on the internet that will actively harm him while it's impossible for him to proof it's the case.

A simple sue case should make this problem go away pretty darn fast. The dad is out of line her.

I once was in this situation.

A girl in the middle of the night was in front of my door. in her night cloths ( probably 5 years old ) and cried that her dad was gone. Her front door of another house in the street was open and only my lights where burning so she came here. ( i lived a lone at that time )

It was half raining. so what do i do? I take the kid in my house? if dad saw this or anybody in the nightbourhood and call the cops i'm DOA.

I gave the kid some jacket to keep her warm, walked on the street with her, and called all my nightbour houses to know if they had any contact information about this guy. multiple people started to actively do something, a few woman in the area started to take her into there house ( as i explained i couldn't do it, because it would look extremely shady ) and the next day i got a basket from the guy with some fruit in it as a thanks note. As he seemed to be in his bed in his house but doesn't wake up easily and the kid never really looked and just assumed when he didn't react he was gone. ( which i couldn't check out at the time, as yea good luck going into a bed room of a guy and ask him if he's good, lol rip )

Later on i did hear camera's where inspected by the government in the area to see how the kid actually did happen to move towards my house and nothing came from it.

You can get yourself in a really really bad situation, really fast.

So you are saying that if you were ever in a situation where you needed help, absolutely needed help in order to get out of the situation you are in ... you'd rather have people minding their own business ?

Nah, I don't believe that.

I still like helping other people, and in turn, I hope that other people (usually one is enough) will help me if I ever need it.

Of course charges should be filed. You can't just go around beating people up because you think they did something. Fucking barbarians, try talking before you start swinging.

How's your kid going to do while you're both in jail?

I would press charges and smile gleefully as they're lead away from their child crying and sobbing.

The mother would be wailing "MY BABY" and I'd be doing the cabbage patch yelling "wonder who's gonna protect it now?!?!?!"

The parents are everything that is wrong with western society today. Even though they are proven wrong by both police, independent witness and the guy's friends, they can still not admit fault or responsibility.

Sorry for the kid, having those people as parents.

A certain segment of society seems to think families should not be separated as a result of law breaking. I wonder what opinion they hold in this instance.

Ass holes. Cant do anything these days with out this and that. Reminds me of one time when out walking. This 4 or 5 year old was dressed in a Cinderella dress. This old women was walking past at the same time and said. Don't you look pretty. Mum said say thank you. So she did. If I said don't you look pretty I would have been done for raping a 5 year old.

That's an interesting experience. Most people (including me) wouldn't have been so thoughtful of the potential consequences. A clear mind can get you a long way.

As for the TC's article, what the parents did was unacceptable. I could understand the beating on the grounds that they were caught by surprise at the time and lost their calm out of fear for their kid's safety. But publicly and online defaming that guy when all evidence was in his favor was wrong. They should have apologized to him. If he sues, he'll have every right.

Commendable but extremely naive. I learned from a very young age that if you're a guy around children, lots of people will think you're a pervert regardless of how you act. When I was 15 I used to go wait at the door to the elementary school to pick up my nieces. People would call the police on me because "a teenager had no business being at an elementary school so he must be trying to snatch some kids". At a point I ended up having to wait by the security guard so people would not make a fuss. A few years later I was babysitting a friend's toddler and he was part of a play group so the mother asked me to go in her place. I got told that "for the safety of the women, no men were allowed"...yes, because you let a guy in there and he'll just rape those 30 odd women, right? Are you a single father? Then **** you.

Even now that I have a son and I take him to the kids park you rarely see any fathers alone with their kids there so a lot of women automatically assume I'm there "trying to pick up chicks", which results in some odd attempts at flirting I'd rather not have to deal with...I'm well married and not interested, thank you. So even with my own kid there they don't seem to even consider I'm there for him, not them...so mostly I end up waiting either for a time the park is reasonably empty or bring my wife with.

But yeah, the beating is totally uncalled for and I think he should press charges.

Why am I not surprised? Sorry, to my peers in Florida, but damn why does it always seem to happen in Florida?

As for the subject, this won't stop me from doing the right thing. I think this just goes to show how admirable restraint is, and how foolish it is to be overtly aggressive. I mean, the guy safely got his daughter back, why kick his ass? If he was a pedophile, you could have pressed charges; but since you kicked his ass, now he can sue you! REVERSE JUSTICE! There is nothing wrong with helping a lost girl find her parents, allegedly or otherwise, as far as the police go.

But that's worst case, and super rare, and more like a movie plot. More likely (and what happened here) an innocent man was trying to help and an agro, bro-dad was like "oh I gotta protect my herd, I'm an animal RAWR!"

You advocate breaking up a family? Social services doesn't want to do that in many instances, especially first infractions; they try to keep families together despite everyone thinking the contrary.

You wouldn't encourage this man to get anger management, stress therapy, maybe general therapy? A healthy person doesn't just beat the shit out of a guy for leading his daughter around, he obviously has some issues.

See above. And to clarify, it's not as simple as "law breaking", these are extenuating circumstances.

I thought this was interesting:

Still, when asked whether he believed the man's innocence, the child's father said no.

"No, hell no, I don't," he said over the phone, "Not at all."

This is after the man leading the child around was seen trying to help the child:

Lakeland Police, on the other hand, said they were confident that the man was just trying to help the girl.

"An independent witness who didn't know the family or anybody said they saw him pointing out different males saying 'is that your father?'" Lakeland Police Sgt. Gary Gross said in an interview with WFLA.

And, of course, social media is ruining the GOOD GUY's life:

Despite the man's innocence, several posts were published on social media defaming his character. Family and friends of the toddler posted the man's name, photo, and place of employment online, calling him a "child predator."

Ugh maybe I won't help people any more...

http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/06/randy-the-guinea-pig-has-sex-with-100-females-at-hatton-country-world-in-warwickshire-4752563/

it can happen

@Storm_Marine: Legends say a kid accidentally dropped a can of Axe in Randy's cage the previous night.

Heck yeah, and I want to watch when it happens.

I want to see parents frantic and desperate as they wonder what will happen to their kid while they're locked up.

You said it yourself, these parents aren't right. So we allow them to have a kid?

Nope. Go to jail and before you do put on such a spectacle that I can laugh about it for years to come.

There have been stories with a person literally bleeding to death on a side walk of a major city as people walked by not doing anything.

The smartest thing to do nowadays is just to call the police, give them details more over the phone and wait tell you what to do in situations like this. When I take my daughter to the parks and such, I'm more watching her playing with other kids and never leaving out of my sight, but now that she's older, I don't half to watch her closely but still present.

I'm just gonna say it's the parents fault for not watching there child in the first place! I as a parent would and never will let this happen to my own kid. I know better then that.

The beating was unacceptable and whoever leak this into social media should be ashamed as well.

@mrbojangles25 don't feed the trolls.

-Byshop

@Byshop: I saw Jays post but I wasn't reading it deeply to understand what he meant by his first post and when I saw your post, I get it now lol.

makes sense

In short; the heat, humidity, and influx of residents from all the other states.

So because how I conduct my personal life isn't the same way you do you insult me?

That's allowed now?

only in floriduh

First sentence sums it up. Having good intentions is great but you also have to demonstrate sound judgement. Even if you're trying to help, you can make a situation worse by wading into it without understanding what's going on. I had a not entirely dissimilar situation happen to me once. I was with my boys (3 and 5 years old at the time) at a small playground in an outdoor mall. I was standing where I could see both of them, no more than 15 feet from either. My youngest lost track of where I was and started calling to me. He has said "Daddy?" maybe twice and I started to call back to him so he could see where I was when an older man approached him and asked if he was lost and started talking to him. I called to the man loudly and firmly from where I was standing (still keeping an eye on both) and yelled for him to leave my kid alone. My son wasn't lost, crying, or even scared. He lost track of where I was in the group for a whopping 10 seconds and this guy felt like that was a situation where he needed to get involved and intervene.

I'm not saying don't help, but if I'm going to get involved I'm going to use good judgement to cover my ass so my intentions can't be called into question.

-Byshop

Yes. Also those that published his information.

Yeah, you knew he was safe but the guy didn't. I've seen kids get lost, call out and wait in place like they should and then out of nowhere they panic and run into traffic because they think they see mom/dad across the street...kids aren't very rational in those situations. Then again, you called out to the guy, didn't run over and beat the crap out of him, which I'm sure the guy appreciated :p

I've tried it out with my son a few times (he's turning 2 tomorrow) where I let him walk around the supermarket and he loses track of me (I don't lose track of him though; the shelves are too high for him to see me but I see him just fine) and invariably, after 10 seconds of him being alone someone always comes and talks to him. Was really happy last time when someone came to ask him who he was with and if he needed help he replied with "I'm with papa...I'm ok; he'll be back" and just stood his ground. I wouldn't think of being aggressive to the people because they addressed a lost kid though...now if they grab him we have a different story...

This news saddens me. From now on, I'm not sure if I would help a child if I think s/he is lost as I don't want to be beaten up.

The parents are assholes. The guy should sue them.

It sounds like the dad in this story doesn't want to admit that he was wrong. By making it about his anger towards the good Samaritan, it keeps the conversation away from "where were the parents when the kid was wandering lost?" If he admits that he beat up a guy who was just trying to help then he's the asshole.

-Byshop

So these morons didn't properly watch their kid, who went wandering, then assaulted someone trying to help. Some people shouldn't be parents.

Fair enough, but if we know he is a troll, why is he still here?

They aren't very good parents if they lost their track of their 2 year old.

Yea the dad should be charge with assault...complete over reaction. IF you are a male Don't help kids unless you have a female friend/wife with you..otherwise you are a kidnapper & a paedophile. :P

Florida gets all the weird news.

Gotta love mob justice down at Florida. Reminds me of the Trayvon case.

Goodness is not badness nowadays. It is we live in a very highly paranoid society.

No, what happened was 33% naivety on the samaritan's part, 33% overreaction on the parent's part and the rest is simply prejudice that society has towards men in general.

If it was a woman, you could almost 100% guarantee it wouldn't turn out this way.

@MuD3: "try talking before you start swinging."

And shooting. =(

Which is why it's just better for men to do nothing at all in this situation. If you see a lost kid, ignore him/her. Let women nearby do this thing. What happens to the lost kid will be the parent's fault.

To me that just seems like an unfortunate misunderstanding. I would forgive the parents for the confusion. They were in defense mode and its understandable. If he needed costs covered for medical expenses or something it would be reasonable to ask them to help cover it. Not everything needs to end up in trying to make a situation even worse.

Well, what an unfortunate situation all around. I can understand why the parents protected their child under this misunderstanding. It doesn't necessarily upset me as much especially considering how there are indeed predators out there in this world and to assume any random man carrying a parent's own child as a mere "Good Samaritan" is a twisted assumption especially when media hypes up and scares the idea of child predators all the time in the news. I can't blame the father for protecting his child.

What really draws the line and causes me to lose all respect for the father, is the aftermath which he took to social media to completely antagonize and shame the male helper on top of reveal personal information such as his identity and whereabouts. That's just fucking wrong, and on top of that even despite the clear proof of his innocence, the father still is in denial and can't come to a decent apology?

What a bonehead of an asshole.

@skipper847: WTF are you babbling on about?!?

That I can agree with.

Lol you didnt read the part where the parents and their relatives proceeded to falsely "expose" the man's identity and even workplace framing him as a child predator on the internet? Even when police already explained to them that they found no wrong doing on the samaritan's part?

That sort of situation is actually very likely to happen if you happen to be male and try to help a lost kid. Seriously, it's much better to ignore a lost kid. You'll never have this bad experience.

You don't assault people. His child was there and safe. If he thought something untoward was going on he should have called the police. Man is a POS throughout the entire thing.

Well these days are ruled by media and bs stories, they can make the most innocent things look like the complete opposite. He should have talked to anyone there with the child, and asked for assistance in finding the kids parents. He could have also called the police. I would have never proceeded to walk around with this child anywhere. Definitely could lead to disaster, which in this case it did. You have to be cautious even when doing good these days. Crazy peeps will point fingers for anything these days.