USA: Being funny could send you to prison now

I did a search and found no similar threads discussing this story, it was published in PBS. Apologies if a thread already exists.

Simply put: A dad posts a picture of his daughter on Facebook, with her mouth, hands and feet taped, and a comment under the picture which said "This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back. ; )". The picture somehow ended up in the hands of police, and a day later the father was arrested and charged with Aggravated Battery which holds a maximum sentence of 7 years. He has been locked up because of that picture with a 100,000 USD bond...

The father says it was damn joke, and I believe him, I mean for GOD SAKE, I watch America's Funniest Videos, people do jokes like that, and do practical jokes etc.. No harm done, when police gets involved in these sorts of matters, then the element of fear increases. Note - What are the boundaries, what types of jokes am I allowed to do without the fear of being locked up - what are the boundaries?

Here's a similar fun time with your child which could send you to prison, if compared to this case:

- If you hold your kid high and spin him/her for fun, you could get arrested and locked up with 100,000 USD bond, and charged with Aggravated Battery. Quick, hide all the videos of fun time with your kids.

2. If you throw your kid up and then catch him/her for fun, you could get arrested and locked up with 100,000 USD bond, and charged with Aggravated Battery. Me and my dad had fun times like that, I guess if it was on video and the video was on Facebook, my dad would have been arrested ? Right?

...

This opens the door for police involvements in all family activities, whether you have a traditional game you play, maybe it is different, so what? Some families are different, some families play different jokes, different activities, different culture formed with the family which the outsiders might not understand at all.

Link : www.cbsnews.com...

Originally posted by insaan

A dad posts a picture of his daughter on Facebook, with her mouth, hands and feet taped, and a comment under the picture which said "This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back. ; )".

But that isn't funny.

He should be arrested....for being so STUPID. Who would tape up their daughter...take a picture and facebook it; these days? Don't people REALIZE what times we live in? What he did, is HARDLY considered humor, nor was there anything FUNNY with it.

If he wanted to be humorous, why didn't he photoshop tape around one of the pictures, his daughter has posted on facebook; then, repost it to her wall? Now, THAT would be funny. What he did was tasteless!

reply to post by BrokenCircles


not funny but If its a joke, why should the guy be arrested? pathetic!

Every time I turn around the government is implementing stupid rules. I know the economy sucks but damn $100,000 for doing what I've seen a million (slight exaggeration ) parents do countless times (playing upsy daisy, not taping up their child). Another way the government says it's protecting children when it's really sticking it's nose somewhere it doesn't belong. There are REAL crimes being commited all over this country and they're wasting time and effort on this?

reply to post by insaan


I would say he is in jail for stupidity. If he was trying to be funny and did this as a joke. Guess what it isn't funny. I doubt if it was funny to his child and it definitely wasn't funny to the cops. Anyone should know anything that is posted on facebook is being monitored and reported so what did he expect. Like they say you can't fix stupid.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


everyone has a different sense of humour

Simply put: A dad posts a picture of his daughter on Facebook, with her mouth, hands and feet taped, and a comment under the picture which said "This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back. ; )". The picture somehow ended up in the hands of police, and a day later the father was arrested and charged with Aggravated Battery which holds a maximum sentence of 7 years. He has been locked up because of that picture with a 100,000 USD bond...

As a victim of abuse, I completely agree with the charges put against the father. Even if he says that it was a joke, what he did is disgusting and morally wrong. Taping up his daughter?

What kind of father does that as a joke?!

Originally posted by redrose123
reply to post by insaan

 

I would say he is in jail for stupidity. If he was trying to be funny and did this as a joke. Guess what it isn't funny. I doubt if it was funny to his child and it definitely wasn't funny to the cops. Anyone should know anything that is posted on facebook is being monitored and reported so what did he expect. Like they say you can't fix stupid.

if the daughter didnt want to then this would be a much bigger story than it is im sure it was just fun for them

reply to post by BrokenCircles

You have to choose your fun visely.

That was not visely.

To OP.
When you throw your kid in to the air, the chance of them getting hurt is pretty big, so i would say, that it's a stupid idea.

I don't have kids yet and wouldn't ever think about doing something like this in a serious matter. But I've done stuff like this to my cousins and the such all in good fun and nobody is worse for wear.

My problem with this is the police state we live in. There can certainly be two entirely situations in which the end result would be this picture evidence. One in good loving fun, the other with a more malice intent. Yet both will be prosecuted the same.

It was not funny. It was not a joke. It was abuse. Put yourself in the child's position and think about it for a minute...AND he was an idiot for posting it on Facebook....But it was a good thing he did, otherwise the kids might have had a longer life of unknown mental, emotional and physical abuse...

I don't see how tying up your daughter could be funny. This guy was also clearly stupid for putting the photo onto a public site such as Facebook, where all his friends could see it. He was asking to get into trouble imo.

reply to post by Quyll


come on they were both in on the act! get over it!

thats her college fund gone down the drain bail money 100k wow!

dressing up and drenched in fake blood as an axe murderer on Halloween would be risky too then, just in case someone took it seriously and called the ol' bill.

Heard it all now!

reply to post by Starwise


Not trying to be rude and you can pass. But it's obvious you were abused in one way or another as a child. Anybody who holds that much contempt towards an innocent act liek this has more skin in the game than the "normal" person.

Originally posted by lukeUK

not funny but If its a joke, why should the guy be arrested? pathetic!

Originally posted by lukeUK

come on they were both in on the act! get over it!

In that article, I see that it says his pastor claimed that it was a joke. Where does it say that the little girl was "In on the act"?

Originally posted by ping9

Anybody who holds that much contempt towards an innocent act liek this has more skin in the game than the "normal" person.

Were you there?
How do you know for certain that this was an "innocent act"?

Originally posted by LukeUK

come on they were both in on the act! get over it!

thats her college fund gone down the drain bail money 100k wow!

dressing up and drenched in fake blood as an axe murderer on Halloween would be risky too then, just in case someone took it seriously and called the ol' bill.

Heard it all now!

Clearly you don't understand the difference between dressing yourself up as an axe murderer on a day in which almost everyone dresses themselves up as something grotesque, and taping up your daughter.

It's disgusting, morally wrong, and sick.

By the way, you don't just "get over" abuse.

Anyone who understands the emotional toll that abuse can take on a mind, knows that.

can i retract my previous comments..

I just read through the news report...7 year old shouldnt be submitted to that type of thing, whether joke or no joke. The photo is pretty distressing

luke

reply to post by BrokenCircles


Obvious rhetorical question is obvious rhetorical question. As to how I asssuming this act was innocent, let's see.
1. no history of child abuse
2. no history of any criminality
3. nobody was hurt (unless you count how all this media attention will affect this little girl)
4. posted picture on public forum
5. made joke (admittingly bad) to accompany said picture

Figure it out. Don't be so broad with your judging brush.