Police Searching for Woman Caught Beating Child on Surveillance Tape
 

Has anyone watched the video? Its horrible how bad she beat her daughter.

GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! People piss me off! No one has any right to treat a child like that. If I had seen her doing that to a four year old I probably would given her a healthy chunk of my mind as well as reporting her. I hate it when people are cruel . . . it's a sad statement about the world today.

Emily

Yes. It was so horrible, it made my stomach hurt just watching it. That woman is sick. I know that your children can make you mad but no child desreves this punishment. I mean it looked like she was shaking her so hard and she was full out punching her daughter.

It was on the "Today" show this morning. I turned my head, I don't watch violence, ESPECIALLY real life violence. I didn't watch the tape of the police beating that boy in CA, either. I don't know how to handle that, and if it's a little girl, even more so. I didn't watch the footage of the umpire getting assaulted either.

What I will say, pertinent to this topic is, the woman is sick, and I fear for her daughter, now and for her future. I pray they find her, take her away, and put her in a loving home. I WISH I had the income to afford to take care of a child in foster care.

I saw that on the news last night here in the Metroplex area. They think she might be in this area.

It makes me so sad to think that there are people who do this to their children :( No one deserves to be treated like that.

They have the sister in custody and are still looking for the mother...her poor daughter is ONLY four! She didn't even look like she was doing something wrong when the mother started beating her. I can't believe that people act like that.
She should be made to have her tubes tied and someone beat her across the head so she knows how it feels.
What a sad story!!!!

Hootie

I'm mad at the family.

If I found out ANYONE was beating their children like that, REGARDLESS of their relation to me I would have somthing to say about it!

Some things you just don't put up with, or protect people from.

My thoughts exactly. You know that someone in her family knows where they are. They ought to be concerned about the child's health if nothing else, and tell the authorities where she is so that medical attention can be provided.

too close to home
 

I have friends in Mishawaka, and was at that Khol's not too long ago... It's been alll over the news around here... What makes me the most sick is that even though the family may take her side of any reason, have some respect for human life... They were saying on the news up here that besdies the fact that they want to arrest the mom, the main reason the want to find her is that they know the girl needs serious medical attention "if she's not already dead yet". It's so sad....It pisses me off so bad too.. If she knows what's good for her, she probably left the area... but if she didn't, and I come across her, I don't want to be held responsible for my actions. :( :( :( The whole thing is just pissing me off..

All I want is 30 seconds alone with that woman.

She'll never hit anyone again.

I just saw the tape on the news. That poor little girl. :(

Update
 

MISHAWAKA, Ind., Sept. 20 — The young mother sought for beating her child, after a nationwide release of a videotape of the attack, intends to surrender to authorities Saturday. “She’s very remorseful, very upset, very apologetic and ashamed of those actions,” Steven Rosen, her attorney, said Friday night.

ACCORDING TO ROSEN, the woman, Madelyne Gorman Toogood, is on her way to Chicago, where she is to face felonious charges of battery to a child — her daughter Martha, 4 — if and when she turns herself in on Saturday morning.

Rosen said his client was not a bad mother and that the incident was out of character.

He also said he understands the little girl to be safe and unharmed.

“There has been no trauma caused to the child,” Rosen said. “There’s no hematoma; there’s no bruises; there’s no scratches.

“There’s nothing wrong with this mother. The mother obviously used very poor judgment; I’m not here to defend the videotape or justify the videotape,” Rosen said.

“She wants friends, family and people who have viewed it to accept her apologies,” Rosen said at a news conference. “Be understanding — that’s what she wants is for people to be understanding.”





The article goes on to discuss the incident, which is all covered in the first article posted. If you care to read it, the link is as follows:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/810533.asp?0dm=C15RN

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I saw the video on CNN earlier this evening and was very disturbed by it. I feel horribly for the little girl. :(

screw that .... :mad:

On the news tonight they showed an extended length of the tape than what I saw earlier today. Man, she beat the kid and was like punching her in the head it looked like. According to the news the sister-in-law is being charged with failure to report abuse.

This woman is a threat to her child. Reguardless if that was out of character or not. No one should get away with what she did!

Hootie

This made me sick...I mean physically sick to my stomach.
Beyond the beating-she looked around to see who was watching.
She didn't just "lose" it, she new the minute she left the store what she was going to do.

My son and his friends all saw this and they were so worked up.
They used to joke around and call "Child Abuse" when parents required chores or they were on restriction-just a catch phrase.
They had never seen anything like this-couldn't even imagine it...

I understand everyone is entitled to equal representation but to the lawyer who defends this woman, now in the media and soon in the courts, you're a scum bag!

He also said he understands the little girl to be safe and unharmed. UNHARMED? Maybe she received no FURTHER harm..
“There has been no trauma caused to the child,” :eek: “There’s nothing wrong with this mother. The mother obviously used very poor judgment Poor judgement is when you let your kid stay up too late or watch unacceptable TV programing.
“Be understanding — that’s what she wants is for people to be understanding.” Just like she is of her little baby girl. What I wouldn't do to sit on the jury when she comes to trial...

Re: Update
 

She d@mn well should be ashamed! What she did was not only child abuse but wrong in every sense of the word. Words can not express how :mad: :eek: :( :mad: this makes me feel!

First of all, I find it very difficult to believe that after all that there is no physical injury to the child. Secondly, what about mental trauma people? If I just had the crap beat out of me you can bet I'd be a little traumatized, and add the fact that it was her own mother!?!? That poor little girl is going to need some help.

Child abuse gets me riled up and ticked off! What I wouldn't love to give that woman a piece of my mind:mad: :mad: :mad:

Emily

Are they certain that this child is uninjured? Did they take her to a doctor? Her bruises could have healed by now since the abuse occurred on Sept. 13th. I wonder if this child has received any medical treatment. From what I have read, this is not clear.

She knew enough to be discrete while beating her girl so she clearly knew at that moment that what she was doing was wrong. There is really no excuse or justification or room for understanding when someone beats a child. You know that this isn't the first time this mother did this. Usually there is a pattern of abuse in these types of situations. What a sad story. The saddest thing is that today hundreds if not thousands of children will endure a similar abusive experience. :(

MISHAWAKA, Indiana (CNN) -- The woman caught on videotape apparently beating her young daughter in a parking lot, said Saturday that she was not a monster and that her daughter should not have to pay for her mistake.

Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 26, was accompanied by her husband, Johnny Toogood; her lawyer, Steven Rosen; and the alleged victim -- their 4-year-old daughter, Martha -- as she turned at the Mishawaka Police Department. She was released on $5,000 bail a few hours later.

Martha was taken to a hospital for medical tests and then Child Protective Services officials decided to place her with a foster family in St. Joseph County until it can be determined if a member of her own extended family can take care of her, St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Toth.

At a news conference after her release, Gorman Toogood emotionally criticized officials' decision not to let her husband or another family member care for Martha.

"A mistake, that's what happened. A mistake happened. A mistake I made happened ... I apologize for it, there is nothing more I can do than that, but my child shouldn't pay for a mistake I made, and that is what she is doing," she said, crying.


"I'm not a monster," Gorman Toogood added, declining to explain what made her so angry that she attacked her daughter.

As a condition of bail, Gorman Toogood will be allowed only supervised visits with Martha. She also will not be able to visit her two sons, ages 5 and 6, without supervision, either. The two boys will be living with their father.

"The family is traumatized that this child ... is now going to be placed in a strange home, and to me, that is very detrimental ... bordering on abuse," Rosen told reporters after his client was released. "(Everyone) has told me that it is not an abusive home, what you have observed on film, yes, is mentally and physically abusive. It happened."

"I think it was clear here, the young lady lost her temper and instead of losing her temper, if she had learned and practiced the proper procedures when she loses her temper this probably wouldn't have happened. And that's what she needs to learn," he added.

Detectives questioned Gorman Toogood Saturday evening for about an hour, Toth said. He said her attorney was present and that Gorman Toogood waived her rights and agreed to be interviewed. She was then taken to the county jail to be booked on a felony charge of battery against a child.

An arraignment is scheduled for Monday.

The charge carries a possible prison sentence of six months to three years, Toth said.

Several family members gathered at the police station as Gorman Toogood turned herself in.

Police have been searching for Gorman Toogood since September 13, when a surveillance camera in a department store parking lot videotaped her apparently slapping and punching the girl inside an SUV, after first looking around to see if anyone was watching.

After several days of fruitless searches for the girl and her mother, authorities gave the tape to the news media, and it began airing nationwide Thursday. Only then did Gorman Toogood, through her lawyer, begin talking with Toth's office about surrendering. Toth said no deals were made to encourage her to surrender.

Rosen said the scene on the tape "is not what you think it is. It was a bad moment at a bad time."

"The mother obviously used very poor judgment," he said. "She's very remorseful. She regrets it, and I'm here to say that she's not an enemy."

Another woman seen on the videotape, identified by police as Gorman Toogood's sister, Margaret Daley, has been arrested and charged with failing to report child abuse and assisting a criminal, authorities said. The sister was "not cooperating" with authorities, said prosecutor Maggie Jones.