Sibling Chatty Goes To Jail

[Sibling Chatty]

Maybe.

Depends on the witnesses...

Came out of the grocery store with Tammy this evening. There was a man, a woman (OK, girl, she's all of 18) and her baby in the parking lot near my car.

I see the man SLAP the baby, tiny baby, in the face. Somehow, I CANNOT fathom how, my cane ends up on his head, then gouged into his ribcage, and then pinning him down as I step on his hand.

Police are called, ambulance is called, Tammy (six feet tall, a nursing assistant accustomed to lifting elderly patients, so quite strong) has gently pulled me away. OK, she's pinned me against my car and taken my cane away so I'll quit whailing on the SOB.

The baby has 2 breaks in the jawbone and a shattered cheekbone, plus signs of previous abuse. The girl is black and blue everywhere that DOESN'T show when clothed, and the SOB wants to file assault charges on me. Now HIS ass is going to be in jail, with NO hope of probation (he has a record, plus a sealed juvie record that includes abuse to an infant--amazing what people will tell you) and I was released on personal recognizance. (He's been admitted to the hospital. Somebody done messed him up some.)

Seems he may have a problem filing charges. The 'impartial' witnesses in the parking lot seem to remember seeing him step back into me and trip on my cane, this poor handicapped lady--"and then he turned to HIT the woman so she defended herself"!!

The judge came to the hospital to hold arraignment, so that I didn't have to climb stairs at the courthouse. (They're working on the elevators over the weekend) plus she didn't want the mother of the baby taken out of the hospital. Also, somehow, the guy got a good kick to the kidneys...

Anyway, The Temper of Chatty may have, ummm, flared a bit.
=============

This SOB is going down. 2 month old infant, now in critical condition in a Houston hospital (Life Flight helicopter directly to the parking lot, they didn't even bother with the local ER) but hopes are that there's no neurological damage. His just-as-worthless brother is the father of the baby, but HE went to prison while the girl was pregnant, so he turned her over to this jerk. Evidently, the girls step-father turned her out to these creeps for $250 when she was 14.

There are times when I am very glad that I do not espouse violence or carry a weapon. I am aware of the massive amounts of in that statement, but if I'd had a gun as the story unfolded? I'd have used it, no questions asked, no regrets.

Oh, my 'victim' also had 3 assorted types of illegal drugs on his person and in his vehicle.

Truly sucks to be him.

The EMT that was assigned to catheterize him was trying to locate the largest catheter he could get, and the doctor decide that he needed a huge dose of Narcan AND no pain meds until bloodwork was back.

And they cleaned the scratch on my hand and put a bandage on it for me while we waited for the judge.

As Dan said, I'm NOT 10 feet tall and bulletproof, but I tend to forget that. Somehow, I don't forsee me doing any time. I DO forsee me being deposed about this, so that if the trial is delayed, my health problems won't be an issue. Seems I'm the ONE person that clearly saw the blow that broke the baby's jaw, so my statement will carry a lot of weight.

It'll be a while before I can get to sleep....

[Griffin NoName]

 

(......and another useful reason to keep taking my stick with me when I go out!)

(....they give medals for services to the community Chatty)

[Bluenose]

So often these creeps get away with their abhorrent behaviour because good people are afraid to "get involved".  Good on you Chatty, you did us proud.  Tolerance is our ideal, but all things have limits and beating defenceless children and women is surely beyond the pale.  I only hope that I would be half so brave should I encounter such a situation.   My greatest wish from this is that the child manages somehow to pull through and goes on to lead a long and fulfilling life despite its obviously unfortunate beginning.

Plus I think we should institute a new award for good citizenship and call it "the purple walking stick" and make Sibling Chatty the inaugural recipient thereof!

Edit: fix typos - see what happens when you post when you are really really tired...

[ivor]

Wow! Good job Chatty!

[Opsa]

OMG Chatty! That is so upsetting! But I'm glad, glad, glad you stepped in. You probably saved that baby's life. And I hope that bruised young Mommy will be able to finally see that her situation is NOT acceptable to bystanders.  This should make all the difference in the world to her. I hope she can get the heck away from those abusive idiots and find some dignity for herself and safety for her baby. No-one deserves to be treated like that. Now she knows.

I think it sometimes takes a poor, handicapped lady to step up to these jerks. I'm sure he was completely surprised to be confronted by the likes of you. If you had been a big, burly guy he could have punched you back and still looked like the man he wasn't. Now, I want a cane! Hey- I just bought one with a brass duck-head last fall at a yard sale, "just in case". Cost me all of a dollar. Now I know why I had to have it!

I love Blue's "Purple Walking Stick" award idea.

[Griffin NoName]

I echo love the purple w/s award.

<sigh>my stick is turquiose

[The Meromorph]

My best friend in Louisville (who I've sometimes described as a renaissance mechanic - He makes tools to make tools to do things he wants to do.), has recently taken up making walking sticks. I love walking sticks, and I fell in love with one of the ones he had made and bought it off him about two months ago.

The handle is solid brass, the stick is hickory.
I secretly call it my 'smiting stick'.

Say the word and I'll have him make you one, Auntie Dee Dee.

[Sibling Chatty]

Update!!

After the Narcan and the explanation of WHAT he'd done, the guy has indicated that he's not pressing charges, he IS pleading guilty to whatever they throw at him and that he's aware that he'll probably be severely beaten if not shanked in prison. Yeah, self defense against a baby is sorta hard to claim...

I'm off the hook, the judge called and said they wanted my statement on file just in case.

Baby seems to be doing well so far. Three pediatric surgeons and a pediatric dentist are preparing to set the jaw in hopes of attaining normal growth, if not, there'll be corrective surgeries as needed.

[Griffin NoName]

Good.

[Sibling Chatty]

The judge is working hard to keep the media away from this. It would be a total train-wreck news story, with no privacy at all for the poor girl involved. Evidently Texas Children's hospital is treating her as well as the baby, and they've quietly issued arrest warrants for her step-father and her mother, to deal with the 'sale' issue.

That all took place in Arkansas, so it's going to require some inter-state cooperation, but all the principals are in Texas now, so...who knows. The girl has indicated that she'd like for the baby to be adopted by someone who could provide a stable home, and that she would like to be 'fostered' and allowed to go to school. They took her out when she was 12 to care for younger siblings, then got rid of her, evidently when her mother told the step-father that she wasn't having him sleeping with "another woman" in her house.

There are some people that just need killin'.

I'm very glad that it has escaped media notice, and hope it continues to do so. And YAY for rural Texas counties with no newspaper big enough to be on-line...these children might stand a chance, ya know?

[Griffin NoName]

One saved, millions to go?

[Darlica]

I'm a bit torn...

What you did was very brave Chatty and as Opsa said you probably saved this baby's life, I admire you for your courage.
But I also want to shout at you 'cause you put your self in danger like that, like Dan said your not bullet proof (but I bet you can appear 10ft tall when angry), please be at least a little careful.

It is a truly ugly story that unravels thanks to your intervention, I hope everything ends well for both the baby and the girl.



I love the cane idea, but I think a blue cane with flames would be more Chatty...

[Sibling Chatty]

There were other people, moving in the same direction, I just happened to be *right there*. Subconsciously, I knew I was safe, that there WAS backup... plus the temper thing...when I'm 'riled up' that way, I DO look 10 feet tall, and I sorta "Hulk out" (ref. incredible Hulk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_(comics) 

As the Hulk, Banner is capable of immense feats of strength, which increases with his feelings of rage and anger. Anger is a common trigger of Banner's transformation.

).

People tend to be so stunned when I do that...I can get away with a lot. Imagine a serene meadow that suddenly becomes a raging volcano. It stuns the 'victim', generally. (I don't always do a physical response. The verbal ones are quite breathtaking, I've heard. I don't remember them.)

Today, Dan told a friend on the phone what I'd done. His response was "Did NASA chart the glow of her anger? What was the reading on the Richter Scale?" And "Did they find all the pieces of the guy's body..."

They say that carcinoid can cause this, a 'carcinoid rage'. If so, then I guess it's true that I've had the carcinoid since I was a teen, because that's when my 'temper' got so bad. Usually, it's under control. There are those things that just short-circuit the system.

Or, as my brother put it. "She's a mean bitch, but she's a FAIR mean bitch, and I want her on MY side in any fight. And for God's sake, don't physically or emotionally hurt a child, or you're dead meat and rotting by the time she's done." (We've had words about his neglect of his various children at times. He's cleaned up THAT act out of self preservation.)

Blue, with flames, that IS me.

[ivor]

I think you need a better cane Chatty or there would have been no charges to against your 'victim.'  I think I'll send you a head-knocker cane along with your laptop.  It belonged to my Grandpa.  It's been to the top of Bell Rock in Sedona so it has Juju.  I can't think of anybody better to put it to use than you.

Sorry it's taking so long to send you your laptop.  I am putting a built in wireless card in it and I had to order an antenna.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Chatty, you are, once again, my hero. That whole thing sounds like an unmitigated mess and I hope your intervention is what it takes to help the girl and the baby get a new start.