Thursday, September 03, 2009

The Bogeyman...

Meet Roger Stephens, a 61 year old Walmart shopper who took it upon himself to make his visit to a Walmart in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a more pleasant experience for himself by grabbing a crying two year old and slapping her in the face several times in an attempt to make her stop crying. Mr. Stephens reportedly said to the child's mother, "If you don't shut that baby up, I'll shut her up for you". The mother picked up her child and walked away, but Mr. Stephens followed her into the next aisle where he grabbed the child and slapped her several times, after which a fellow shopper restrained him until the police showed up and he was arrested for felony cruelty to a child.

If you want to get really depressed, read the comments in the various places this story is posted on in the internet. There are people defending this jerk.

On the arrest report, which is available on the internet, the child's race is listed as black. If that's correct, it makes me wonder...would he have felt compelled to do this, if it had been a white woman with a crying child? Would he have dared to do this if it had been a white man with a crying child? And if Mr. Stephens had been a black man hitting a white child in a Walmart just outside Atlanta, would this story be a different story?

4 comments:

pam said...

He IS the bogeyman...I just couldn't believe this when I first heard it. I guess he takes the crown now, from the secretary who told us she wouldn't get us from class if something was wrong with our kids (and I won't even put in print the rest of what she said, chills).

emmapeelDallas said...

On the arrest report, which is available on the internet, the child's race is listed as black, leaving me to wonder if this guy were black, hitting a white child, would the difference in races would have been reported? Or put another way...would he have felt compelled to act if it had been a white dad with a crying child?

Chris said...

If he had put his hands on Alexis or my child, he would have been the one getting a beating, that is for sure.

As far as race, this is the first time I heard that the child was black. It doesn't change my opinion either way. Whether it would be reported differently? Maybe so.

hairlesspony said...

It's sad to say that this is the world we live in.

When I was pregnant with Xman, I looked very, very young. B. looked much older. I noticed that people were more apt to comment on the fact that I wasn't wearing a wedding ring than anyone saying, "Oh my god, what is that 30 something doing with that 16 year old."

People nervously commented on the supposed age difference AFTER we engaged in conversation.

If you really want to see the faces of evil, browse the site http://pysih.com/. Not for the faint of heart.