Prepare to feel conflicted. A father who says he found a man trying to molest his 4-year-old may be facing a whole other kind of trial. Cops in Shiner, Texas, say the little girl's dad put a stop to the assault then beat the man to death.
So far what cops will do with the dad remains up in the air. I'm not surprised; there's no easy answer here for them. Say you were put on a jury to face a case like that. Would you be able to make a decision that would let you go to bed that night with a clear conscience? I don't think I would.
I want to say that the fatal beating the Lavaca County sheriff says happened in a family house (no names have been released to protect the sexual assault victim's identity) on Sunday afternoon was the right thing and cheer from the rooftops.
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I'm a parent, for cripes sakes. I never want to see a child being hurt in any fashion. Just last night I sat in my house with my heart beating fast against my chest because I'd heard a rumor that a local teen had to be airlifted out of an accident scene (good news: it was one of those exaggerations that spreads on Facebook -- she's fine). In that sense, if the allegation of abuse is true, then I would have been shaking with anger and horror both. If I were that father, I would have wanted to kill that man.
But wanted to does not equal would have.
Consider this: when you take justice into your own hands, what happens? You get in trouble. You, the person who, up until that very moment, was in the right.
You may say it's "worth it" because the other person got what you thought was "coming," but you are forever marred by having sunk to the criminal level. You are what you profess to despise.
I can imagine that if this dad beat this man, he thought he was doing it for the right reasons. I hope that the police and prosecutors treat this whole case with that in mind. But there is no way to walk away from this one feeling anything but conflicted, is there?
What's your read? Do you think the accusations against this dad make him a criminal or a hero?
Image via Tex Texin/Flickr
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Comments 1120
Mr John-Allen, your statement is spot on correct! I couldn't have said it better myself!!!
You know how you don't die from getting your head beaten in by the father of a child you are molesting? You don't molest a child.
What would a reasonable person do? What is the reaction of a reasonable person when they walk into that situation? In my opinion, reason goes out the window and action becomes reaction to the situation at hand. Passion, the heat of the moment takes over, and there is no reason. This father didn't leave the room and get a weapon with which to kill the perpetrator. He said it was not his intention to kill this man, he said he just reacted and hit him in the head until he stopped moving. If that's true and the perpetrator died as a result, then I say sucks for the perpetrator. It certainly couldn't have been premeditated, the father didn't think before he walked in on the crime taking place that he was going to kill someone.
This father has a right to protect his child, he has the right to stop someone from molesting her, he has the right to use the amount of force deemed necessary to stop the act of the crime. Is he a hero? He did stop one child molester from ever molesting another child. He gets my vote.
Had it been me walking in on someone molesting my chilld, I don't know and can't say that I would have stopped when the molester stopped moving.
I think that before implying this man is a criminal, and asking for people's opinion you should report all the facts.
The fact is.. this man didn't use weapons, he just came out swinging. Anybody who would do any less when finding their daugther being molested is pathetic.
The next fact is, when this man calmed and realized how badly he beat the man.. he called 911 and asked them repeatedly to hurry up and get there more quickly so that the man wouldn't die. He became quite upset at how long it was taking them to get there, and told them they needed to save the guy. That's a lot more kind than most people would be.
Give this dude a break. Anyone who's gettng high and mighty and speaking condescendingly about what they'd do in that situatoin needs to STFU and examine what character flaw within themself makes them feel need to cast judgement on the poor father, in a situation like this.
I'd do the same damn thing. The guy would not stand a chance. Anyone that would walk up to the scene and plead with the pervert to get off his daughter ought to be strangled too!
Heroes don't willingly sacrifice lives to save others. Temporary Insanity may work for certain people, and those with psychosis may be excused, but for average-functioning people "temporary insanity" is the coward's way of covering tracks when a person can't admit to a mistake. Why praise someone for doing something so unfortunate? "He did the right thing" is dismissing how worried even he was about the situation after he stopped. He tried to get the man help. Does that make him a punk by some of your standards?!