Fatal Toddler Beating Ends In More Death

Police Shoot And Kill California Man Who Refused To End Assault On A Small Child

(AP)  A Turlock man was fatally shot by police as he kicked, punched and stomped a young toddler to death in front of horrified motorists who tried to stop the attack on a dark country road, authorities said.

Investigators were trying Sunday to establish the relationship between the 27-year-old suspect and the dead child. 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.

The suspect had a child's car seat in the back of his four-door pickup truck, which 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.

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, according to Singh.

No children within the dead boy's age range have been reported kidnapped or missing in Stanislaus County, he said.

The incident happened on Bradbury Road about 10 miles west of Turlock, a city located about halfway between Sacramento and Fresno.

[Meg003]

Margo231
That must have a terrible ordeal, having a gun pointed at you. I am sorry you had to go through that. But you make a lot of assumptions and generalizations about me and about Americans that have little basis in truth. I cannot imagine where you get the impression that Americans think this country is perfect. Certainly not from reading cbsnews forums!

[margo231]

Beleive it or not but women and children were much safer and continue to be much safer there, beleive it or not but we did not have people killing their own children and people randomly shooting innocent people in schools, malls and colleges...ever. Every country and society has it''s down sides and good sides. The problem with the american society is that you guys think that it''s perfect and it''s the best and there is absolutly nothing wrong with it. Don;t get me wrong - i love this country. But there are a lot of things that are very wrong here. I am not saying that violent mobs are the answer to the problem. But the fact that we are all so involved in our own lives that we are afraid to intervene when we see a child being killed makes me sick to my stomack. And i appreciate your comment about my superhuman abilities but i did have a gun pointed at me once and so unlike you i DO know how i would react if i saw a child being tortured.

[Meg003]

Margo231
Yeah, right. Everybody knows that in societies where violent, lawless mobs kill at will, women and children are much safer. One can only wonder why you ever left such a paradise. However, as you are here, why don''t you join your local police department? They could probably use someone fearless with super-human strength and the ability to see in the dark, not to mention turn back time.

[margo231]

You can keep the award and continue watching kids killed and tortured every day.

[newsjunky5]

Darwin award with device.

[margo231]

See this is the problem with our society. We are too afraid for ourselves. I don''t care how enraged this guy was. Seeing something like this would enrage me even more. I am not a big person, but if i saw a little baby tortuted i would forget about my size. I am almost 40 years old now but i lived the first 19 years of my life in a different country. If this happened back there the guy would be dead by the time the police would arrive. He would have been stomped, beaten, tortured just like he tortuted his baby. AND LET ME TELL YOU - the crime rate involving children back in that country was down to almost zero. You know why - because scumbacks like this knew that if they hurt a child nobody would be able to protect them.

[Meg003]

Patriot12436
While individual acts of military violence may be hard to justify, it is my belief that a prominent country like the United States does not avoid invasion unless potential conquerers fear its fighting military personnel. Our military forces are feared, so our land remains unassailed by invading armies. For proof of what could happen if our military was not intimidating, just look to our south border, which our federal government has refused to defend with our military might. We are being invaded there because our government lacks the resolve to defend that border, and the aliens know it.

[patriot12436]

annia1233
I wish i could say it was alays a kill or be killed situation, i can''t . I was in special ops which did CIA missions. We had assigned targets. After i came back i relaized the war was illegal, corrupt and immoral. I have been anti-war ever since. Have you seen the movie Apocalypse Now wih Martin Sheen. It was the most truthful movie about the war. That was my assignment there. I couldn''t believe it when the movie came out that the govt would let the truth be known. Then i realized if you weren''t there you would never believe our govt was that screwed up.

[patriot12436]

annia1233
I have adjusted fairly well, but the memories never leave. I turned to Budhism from christianity as it offered what i had been searching for. I like their beliefs and now try to show acts of kindness. Maybe the good i do in life will out weigh the bad. I am a strong believer in the second amendment rights and i carry, however i am not opposed to registration, mandatory training, background checks and would even like to see a mental teest given for buying a firearm. I carry because i see so many crazy people running around our country like this one. I wish i had been there. If i had shot him then this fine officer would not have to live with nthe taking of another life. Yes i do niot take a life easily but feel this case was justified.

[annia1233]

patriot12436, I can understand what you mean when you give such heavy consideration to the act of killing another human being. At the end, when time passes I guess one starts looking back and looking for possible alternatives to the course of action we decided to take at that precise time. So, our human feelings come out. I guess you were a soldier, I hope each instance that comes to your mind was one in which were you or the one that felt on the ground. Cruelty to the defensesless is another thing. Cruelty is what that man was doing. I do not feel I can kill the meat I put in my mouth, and I would be a vegetarian if there were no supermarkets, but I am sure I would have killed that man if I had been there.
May God give you peace and the way to do so much good in this remaining time you have in this life that what ever hurts your heart now will pale in comparison.

[annia1233]

There are many, many more good parents than monsters in this country, many many more. Most of us grew with protective parents. For one mosnter, there were many cars stopping and hyelping, and the response was quick. Probably the child was craying and the man got out of his mind. He paid with his life and that was the best thing to happen. We do not need to support in jail monsters, they should be shot like wild animals. I see this like a poor little angel that was attacked by a wild beat and a good man shot the beast and stopped the attack.

[patriot12436]

sorry about the repeats, the computer went crazy

[patriot12436]

mimmich8. I think daily about those i had killed in war so it is not something i take lightly. I commend the officer for taking the necessary action and hope he finds peace in his mind knowing he did what was necessary.

[patriot12436]

mimmick8
I have taken many lives in war. Even justified it is something a person has to live with the rest of their lives so i do not take killing anyone lightly. B

[patriot12436]

mimmick8
I have taken many lives in war. Even justified it is something a person has to live with the rest of their lives so i do not take killing anyone lightly. B

[patriot12436]

mimmick8
I have taken many lives in war. Even justified it is something a person has to live with the rest of their lives so i do not take killing anyone lightly. B

[minnick8-2009]

Now he has to live with the fact he took a life, altho it was a scum element.

Posted by patriot12436

Having taken the man''s life under the circumstances, I can hardly believe the cop would have much to reconcile. I think if I took the life of that monster who was beating and stomping on the baby, I would feel very at peace for having done so.

[patriot12436]

memerider
I carry and if i had arrived on the scene i would not hacve hesitated to bnlow his head off, maybe if someone with a gun had been there the child could hacve been saved. It is a fact a deranged person seems to have super human strength so i cannot fault those who were there and tried to stop him. We don''t know if they were very old, not physicval able to stop him, but they did what they could. I thank them for that.

[patriot12436]

aggiekat2004
I didn''t see anything in the article about the man being a redneck. I always took pride in being called a redneck and every post i see about rednecks has a negative attitude abouit them. I was taught to believe being a redneck meant you had moral convictions, honesty and pride in your coutry. I had a black classmate in college who said she did''t like rednecks. I asked why and she said she was raised to believe they were prejudice. I told her my stand about rednecks and i think we both learned something that day.

[memerider]

If even one of those who tried to stop him had been armed, the toddler might still be alive. This is a strong case for legally carrying in one''s vehicle.