Mom drags kid by leash in Verizon Wireless store and they did nothing!
Ollie
Caught On Camera: Child Dragged Through Ga. Store On Leash
Posted: 1:35 pm EDT August 5, 2009
Updated: 4:22 pm EDT August 5, 2009
ROME, Ga. -- A Verizon Wireless employee captured shocking video of a
mother dragging her child through the store by a monkey backpack leash.
According to a police report obtained by Channel 2 Action News, Melissa
Means told Rome police officer Keith Green that she was having problems
with her child.
The incident occurred in late April on Broad Street in Rome.
Means, of Gaylsville, Ala., told police that she suffered from lupus and
pneumonia and that her son was refusing to walk and because of her health
problems, she could not pick him up. According to the report, Means said
her son liked being �pulled around by his monkey.�
While investigating the incident, Green spoke with a Verizon Wireless
employee who had videotaped the incident on his cell phone. The video was
posted on the video sharing Web site LiveLeak.com. Green said the child had
a red bruise mark on the left side of his neck from the backpack strap.
Representatives from the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS)
were notified of the incident and the child was later released to his
grandmother.
Means was charged with cruelty to children and taken to the Floyd County
Jail.
pbj
> Video here: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20291666/detail.html
>
> Caught On Camera: Child Dragged Through Ga. Store On Leash Posted: 1:35
> pm EDT August 5, 2009
> Updated: 4:22 pm EDT August 5, 2009
>
> ROME, Ga. -- A Verizon Wireless employee captured shocking video of a
> mother dragging her child through the store by a monkey backpack leash.
>
> According to a police report obtained by Channel 2 Action News, Melissa
> Means told Rome police officer Keith Green that she was having problems
> with her child.
>
> The incident occurred in late April on Broad Street in Rome.
>
> Means, of Gaylsville, Ala., told police that she suffered from lupus and
> pneumonia and that her son was refusing to walk and because of her
> health problems, she could not pick him up. According to the report,
> Means said her son liked being “pulled around by his monkey.”
I've seen other mothers drag their kids around by harnesses or daypacks
and their kids were having a blast. That's not to say that's the case
here, but I'm not inclined to jump to nasty conclusions based only on
a fuzzy cellphone video where that may well be all that's happening.
> While investigating the incident, Green spoke with a Verizon Wireless
> employee who had videotaped the incident on his cell phone. The video
> was posted on the video sharing Web site LiveLeak.com. Green said the
> child had a red bruise mark on the left side of his neck from the
> backpack strap.
The leash was attached to the top of the pack, the pack was on the kid's
shoulders, and the mother was pulling the pack head-first with the kid
riding on top. If the pulling had caused a bruise it would have been
around his armpits, not on his neck or shoulders.
BTW, I've sometimes developed bruises on my neck or shoulders from the
flimsy straps on cheap daypacks just from using then normally.
> Representatives from the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS)
> were notified of the incident and the child was later released to his
> grandmother.
>
> Means was charged with cruelty to children and taken to the Floyd County
> Jail.
This sounds like vast bureaucratic over-reaction prompted by the "public
outrage" created by sensationalistic news media, but we'll see as more
info comes out. There were plenty of witnesses in the store, perhaps a
few of them will speak out now that it's made the news. If they say the
kid was screaming and crying then the mother may need counseling rather
than jail (but that's for a psychologist to decide). If witnesses say
the kid was having a good time then Verizon is about to make his mother
very rich.
Ron T.
"Ollie" <ol...@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:h5osok$iq3$1...@news.mixmin.net...
He liked being, "pulled around by his monkey"......
Well, jeez, that's a given.
Don't we all?