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Good samaritan helping lost toddler gets punched by father, labeled predator online

IaN_GAF

Member
So first this dude manages to get separated from his very young child, and then he behaves like a Neanderthal. Kid must be proud.
 

blakep267

Member
Any yet no one is blaming the parents for apparently losing their child in the first place

Father honestly seemed to be projecting his own failures
He's trying to deflect the blame by going all out of the Samaritan. He knows he's wrong but he can't admit that he's a bad father. So it's the other guys fault
 

theWB27

Member
Obviously the father overreacted and shouldn't have physically attacked this man (or attacked his character on Facebook), but at the same time, if it looked like a stranger was walking with my child towards the parking lot, away from the location we were at, I'd absolutely assume the worst. So, I don't blame his initial skepticism and anger.

Do you blame him not accepting that eyewitness and the police told the father help was trying to be found? Still he wouldn't accept that cause most likely he's covering up the fact he lost his kid?
 

kamineko

Does his best thinking in the flying car
Actually, police should leave the victim out of it and arrest for endangerment and inciting violence

That's some seriously shitty antisocial behavior. He shouldn't be allowed to take children anywhere if he's going to act out like that
 

Tagyhag

Member
The good Samaritan told several local outlets that he has now left town with his family for their safety. He says he will not press charges against the father.

Fuck that shit, make him pay.

He's not sorry for his actions, his daughter is going to end up as much of an asshole as he is.
 

kswiston

Member
This is why I'm glad I don't have a daughter. People will think I'm a predator if we are just playing in the park.

This doesn't actually happen.



I would think long and hard before approaching a random child though. Women definitely get a free pass on this sort of thing, even if the chances of a random man being a child molester are also pretty close to zero.
 
It's stuff like this that makes me apprehensive about helping a child out in public like this. Which is a pretty fucked up thing.
 

Jeremy

Member
Seriously though, you better teach your kid to navigate the world solo if you're planning to not keep an eye on them. I definitely wouldn't help a lost child for this reason.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
The father and possibly family sounds like a typical kind of vindictive trash that gang up and destroy people in order to validate themselves.

And yes they are opening themselves up to a lawsuit if they continue spreading the story about their righteousness because the other man is a child predator.
 

Moonkeis

Member
If you don't know where your 2 year old is, I think that is total neglect on the dad. I have a 4 and 6 year old, and no matter where we go, I always make sure to have visual on them or I'll freak out.
 

fallengorn

Bitches love smiley faces
Was half expecting the article to end...

The father made no apologies for his actions but told The Post, “All that matters is that my daughter is home safely.” The daughter was last reported to be wandering the parking lot of a neighboring 7-Eleven.
 

RinsFury

Member
This is why I get nervous when strangers kids just come near me. It's so easy to ruin someones life with a baseless accusation.
 

see5harp

Member
I read the story. I don't know about picking the child up that's above and beyond. That sucks that the father and his family feel so strongly even after police got an independent witness. The victim doesn't need to press charges, but he probably should out the father just so he gets a small taste of justice.
 

Keri

Member
I think what set this father off is the fact that it looked like the man was trying to leave with his child. I'm not justifying his extreme reaction, but I think everyone here should feel free to help lost children, but the important part to remember is to just stay in one spot with them. Don't try to take them anywhere. Just keep them from wandering off further and wait with them, until their parents (who will be looking for them) find you.

Child predators don't just stand in one spot with children. So, you're much less likely to be mistaken for one, if you just wait with them.
 

kswiston

Member
Honestly, I imagine it would happen more often for mixed race families.

That is a good point that I wasn't thinking about. We had a news article a few years back about a white dad being stopped by police/arrested for being with his 3 black little girls.

I guess I should say it doesn't really happen if your kid is of similar skin tone.
 
Honestly, I imagine it would happen more often for mixed race families.

W Kamau Bell referenced being seen and treated as an intruding hobo when he was trying to join his wife, and I believe mixed child, for lunch at a nice restaurant. I wouldn't be surprised if many mixed families have gotten a "Is that your child?" from strangers.
 

Koomaster

Member
Yeah I wouldn't help any kids for fear of this. You lost your child? That's too bad I guess, I'm not getting involved for fear of my own safety.
 
That is a good point. We had a news article a few years back about a white dad being stopped by police/arrested for being with his 3 black little girls.

I guess I should say it doesn't really happen if your kid is of similar skin tone.

Yep. My cousins are mixed Pakistani/Caucasian and I would get dirty looks when I took them to the park to play. They look 100% white. I did have a security guard stop me once to ask about them.
 

Vengal

Member
I feel like bringing a two year old to a softball game should be grounds for child abuse charges anyway. I remember going my first baseball game at 4 and being bored out of my mind and it felt like it would never end.
 

Jinaar

Member
This is why children die (being left alone and in need of actual help), because being a man and being even remotely close to a child is a societal flag that you are indeed a predator.

It's terrible and people need to start being a community and not being an island.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
"The father and his friends were not satisfied with the man’s explanation or that of the police. “So, I guess in Lakeland, you can kidnap a child and get away with it,” the father said to police, local media reported. The police report, local media said, described the father as “increasingly agitated.”

According to WFLA, other media outlets and police, family members and friends went on social media and shared the man’s photo, his Facebook page and his place of business, “calling him a child predator,” WFLA said."


So I guess that this genius never thought about the possibility that the good samaritan could have protected his daughter from an actual child predator? Or just the much, much more likely scenario that she could have wandered off and hurt herself?

Of course not, that would mean that he assaulted an innocent man who was helping him, which is unthinkable.

Yeah, the guy wins the prize for being an atrocious asshole above and beyond the call of duty. Okay, he jumped the gun pummeling the guy, but I'll give him that spur-of-the moment stupid action, he was afraid for his kid.

But to then refuse to accept you fucked up and start smearing the guy online after the fact? Grade A Choice Douchebag. That says a lot more negative things about your parenting skills than your two-year-old getting away from you.
 

see5harp

Member
I think what set this father off is the fact that it looked like the man was trying to leave with his child. I'm not justifying his extreme reaction, but I think everyone here should feel free to help lost children, but the important part to remember is to just stay in one spot with them. Don't try to take them anywhere. Just keep them from wandering off further and wait with them, until their parents (who will be looking for them) find you.

Child predators don't just stand in one spot with children. So, you're much less likely to be mistaken for one, if you just wait with them.

Yea I understand the rage that might come over me, but that doesn't excuse the behavior afterwards by him and his family. I think for the safety of all of the people involved that people should just out this dude now.
 

RulkezX

Member
I'd never ignore a kid in distress , but it's definitely something you have to be aware of as a man.

Fucked up as it is, the media have conditioned people to see predators everywhere
 

Dabanton

Member
I think what set this father off is the fact that it looked like the man was trying to leave with his child. I'm not justifying his extreme reaction, but I think everyone here should feel free to help lost children, but the important part to remember is to just stay in one spot with them. Don't try to take them anywhere. Just keep them from wandering off further and wait with them, until their parents (who will be looking for them) find you.

Child predators don't just stand in one spot with children. So, you're much less likely to be mistaken for one, if you just wait with them.

Yeah that was his biggest mistake. I've had a situation where I saw a child in a mall who looked lost. I got the attention of a lady selling perfume on one of the stands and she called through to security.

We both stood there until they arrived, seemed his mother had walked into a store and not realized he wasn't behind her.

But no way was I wandering anywhere with that little kid.
 

IronRinn

Member
The father made no apologies for his actions but told The Post, “All that matters is that my daughter is home safely.”
No. No it isn't. Good Samaritan should have pressed charges. Fuck this dude.
 
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