Man Slaps Child in Wal Mart

By Amanda Pendolino on September 3rd, 2009

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We’ve all had to deal with babies crying and kids throwing tantrums at stores – but it’s just something you have to ignore. According to the Associated Press, one man in a suburban Atlanta Wal Mart did quite the opposite; he slapped a stranger’s child several times after warning the toddler’s mother to keep her quiet.

Police say 61 year-old Roger Stephens of Stone Mountain, Georgia, told the girl’s mother Sonya Mathews, “If you don’t shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you.” When the 2 year-old kept crying, he hit her at least four times and then told Mathews, “See, I told you I would shut her up.”

The toddler began screaming and Stephens was arrested. Police say an examination showed the girl’s face was slightly red. She’s doing fine now; “As of today, she has really forgotten about it,” said her aunt, Sabrina Mathis. “She’s been playing.”

Meanwhile, the girl’s mother is still a bit shaken up from the incident. ”She’s as well as to be expected,” Mathis said. “Right now she’s just trying to calm down.”

Seriously, who does this? It’s one thing to discipline your own child (though slapping a 2 year-old on the face is never okay), but to intervene with someone else’s? Sickening.