Good Samaritan Beaten After Attempting to Help Lost Toddler Find Parents

[Pitt Gorilla]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...m_npd_nn_fb_nn

A good Samaritan was mistaken for a kidnapper — and beaten by the parents — in a Florida park after trying to help a lost toddler, police said.

The 2-year-old had become separated from her folks during a softball game on Saturday at Southwest Sports Complex in Lakeland, and was spotted by a man at the park with his friends, according to a police incident report published Sunday.

Believing she was lost, the man asked the child where her parents were and walked around the premises with her in hopes she could point them out.

But when the child's father was alerted by bystanders that his daughter was being led away by a stranger, the well-intentioned act was mistaken for a kidnapping attempt.

"I saw this man with my daughter in his hands walking toward the parking lot. What would you do?" the father told NBC affiliate WFLA in a phone interview. "I wanted to kill him!"

Thinking they were stopping a crime, the father and two friends approached the stranger: As his friends took the toddler away, the father punched the good Samaritan "probably five or six times," he told WFLA.

"I thought he was trying to take my daughter," the protective dad told the station.

In a 911 call released to the media, the mother also admits to hitting the man who was with her daughter, and says she did not immediately believe that the incident was simply a misunderstanding.

Lakeland Police, on the other hand, said they were confident that the man was just trying to help the girl.

"An independent witness who didn't know the family or anybody said they saw him pointing out different males saying 'is that your father?'" Lakeland Police Sgt. Gary Gross said in an interview with WFLA.

Police also said the good Samaritan had no prior criminal history and that they were able to verify that he had been at the park with friends.

"It’s understandable how parents can possibly be upset in a situation involving a lost child. However, this incident truly involved a good Samaritan trying to assist a lost child finding their parents," the police report read.

Despite the man's innocence, several posts were published on social media defaming his character. Family and friends of the toddler posted the man's name, photo, and place of employment online, calling him a "child predator."

No charges have been filed against the parents.

When contacted by WFLA, the good Samaritan declined to comment, citing safety concerns and telling reporters he'd left town with his family.

"This guy is a father, a local businessman, has two children, was trying to help this child but they turned it completely around," Gross told the station, "And that's not right."

Still, when asked whether he believed the man's innocence, the child's father said no.

"No, hell no, I don't," he said over the phone, "Not at all."

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

Yeah, I think that's what most reasonable parent would do... but, if your 2 year old gets out of sight like this one did, you're likely not all that reasonable. Sure, shit happens, but seriously you have to watch your kids. It takes a minor moment of time for shit to go wrong.

Little ones can disappear quickly. When it happened with us, I was more than happy that someone has stopped them long enough for us to catch up. Never crossed my mind to beat their helpful asses.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Rooster

If they are walking away with my two year old daughter......yes I get it. I'm not justifying it but I get it.

Both sides handled the situation poorly IMO.

How did the helpful guy handle the situation poorly?

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by tyton75

Hey, how bout you keep an eye on your freaking 2 year old!

this

[Rooster]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

How did the helpful guy handle the situation poorly?

From the OP "I saw this man with my daughter in his hands walking toward the parking lot. What would you do?" the father told NBC affiliate WFLA in a phone interview

All I have said from the beginning is as a father I get where a guy would lose his shit if what is bolded was happening. DJ thinks I'm defending these people and I'm not.

The helpful guy should not have taken the child away from the area or even given the illusion that's what he was doing.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

If the guy was trying to do the right thing, it's a tragedy... I do understand the reaction of the father though.

Cool. He can understand it in jail where he belongs.

[CoMoChief]

Read an article just an hour ago how a father and teenage daughter (wife/mother was deceased apparantly) were on vaction traveling and checked into a travelodge motel. After he checked in he went to move his car and when he came back through the lobby mgmt held him up and started questioning interrogating him about whether he's this girl's real father, called the police on him because that was their "policy"..essentially called this guy a pedo without any substantial proof or evidence that would suggest so, other than he was an older male and she was a teenage girl.

[CoMoChief]

So after the fact the father still didn't believe the guy was trying to help?

...what a buffoon. A simple conversation w/ the guy (not like the guy is trying to flee, father had backup with him). In that conversation the Samaritan would more than likely have pointed out he was with friends and she looked lost and he was trying to have her point out her parents yadda yadda. Instead the father immediately went to fists.

Father should go directly to jail. Do not pass go.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

Read an article just an hour ago how a father and teenage daughter (wife/mother was deceased apparantly) were on vaction traveling and checked into a travelodge motel. After he checked in he went to move his car and when he came back through the lobby mgmt held him up and started questioning interrogating him about whether he's this girl's real father, called the police on him because that was their "policy"..essentially called this guy a pedo without any substantial proof or evidence that would suggest so, other than he was an older male and she was a teenage girl.

There's an ad campaign for airbnb in here. Maybe I'll send them a concept pitch.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rooster

The helpful guy should not have taken the child away from the area or even given the illusion that's what he was doing.

Shoulda just let her wander out into traffic, amiright?

Best case scenario for her is being raised by these psychotic lunatics and frankly I'm guessing we'd all be better off if we'd remove a few of their genes from the pool, eh?

Jesus...telling some guy that found a lost child how he should've handled things is just absurd. He handled things just fine - assholes like Florida Man are the problem, not this dude.

But hey, I guess she shouldn't have been wearing that skirt, eh?

****ing ridiculous.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

So after the fact the father still didn't believe the guy was trying to help?

...what a buffoon. A simple conversation w/ the guy (not like the guy is trying to flee, father had backup with him). In that conversation the Samaritan would more than likely have pointed out he was with friends and she looked lost and he was trying to have her point out her parents yadda yadda. Instead the father immediately went to fists.

Father should go directly to jail. Do not pass go.

No no no no no. This is the other guy's fault. He should've known that this ****ing moron was going to grab a bunch of his drunk buddies and kick his ass.

Guy handled it poorly.

The guy's reaction after the fact paints all the portrait we need of this asshole. It isn't just the doubling down, but the going on social media and flying off. We ALL have seen a friend of a friend like this on facebook and it's always some meth-head ****ing hoosier without basic common sense.

Like I said - next time let her wander into traffic. She's just going to end up a toothless crack-whore like her parents. Best to just nip this one in the bud before she has to find out how much dick she'll need to suck for another bump.

[Rooster]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Shoulda just let her wander out into traffic, amiright?

Best case scenario for her is being raised by these psychotic lunatics and frankly I'm guessing we'd all be better off if we'd remove a few of their genes from the pool, eh?

Jesus...telling some guy that found a lost child how he should've handled things is just absurd. He handled things just fine - assholes like Florida Man are the problem, not this dude.

But hey, I guess she shouldn't have been wearing that skirt, eh?

****ing ridiculous.

Are you a father?

[Beef Supreme]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Like I said - next time let her wander into traffic. She's just going to end up a toothless crack-whore like her parents. Best to just nip this one in the bud before she has to find out how much dick she'll need to suck for another bump.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rooster

Are you a father?

Yes. And if I just flat ****ing lose my kid and approach someone that I find with her, I'm not going to round up my buddies to kick his ass without taking some kind of temperature of the situation.

Are you a sentient being? How can you not see that this was just some hillbilly ****wad looking to go beat up a brown person? This was a white-trash piece of shit that jumped someone who did him a HUGE favor.

And by attempting to shift even one iota of blame over to the other guy, you are effectively defending this ****stick. He's a piece of trash and deserves to be in prison. Panic wrought of your own recklessness is no defense for beating the shit out of an innocent man.

Full stop.

[DJ's left nut]

Here's a question - what if he'd have shot the guy? Just flat killed him.

Because your suggestion is essentially "well he looked like he was trying to kidnap her so the father's reaction is understandable...". Meanwhile, had someone ACTUALLY been trying to kidnap her and that person been shot, we'd have applauded it. So shooting an actual kidnapper is going to be seen as a righteous act.

By extension, if shooting a kidnapper is fine and you seem to believe that beating the shit out of a person that looked like he might be a kidnapper is understandable, why wouldn't flat ****ing shooting the guy have been within reason?

And I'm willing to bet that the only reason this guy didn't actually get shot is that this lunatic shit-stain and his posse of drunk idiots didn't have a gun on them. You can hear the crazy pouring out of this guy in his interviews. And for some crazy-ass reason you want to shift blame.

You absolutely do not get to check reason at the door because you're in a panic that YOU created. That's not acceptable in any form or fashion.

[Rooster]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yes. And if I just flat ****ing lose my kid and approach someone that I find with her, I'm not going to round up my buddies to kick his ass without taking some kind of temperature of the situation.

Are you a sentient being? How can you not see that this was just some hillbilly ****wad looking to go beat up a brown person? This was a white-trash piece of shit that jumped someone who did him a HUGE favor.

And by attempting to shift even one iota of blame over to the other guy, you are effectively defending this ****stick. He's a piece of trash and deserves to be in prison. Panic wrought of your own recklessness is no defense for beating the shit out of an innocent man.

Full stop.

I have never defended these white trash POS softball players or the shitty parenting. Until this post I didn't know the good guy was brown. My first post was based on the OP.

There were some posting that couldn't believe that a parent might actually get emotional seeing their child being carried away to a parking lot. (Put all the other white trash shit aside that was going on) There answer to the situation was walking up to the guy and saying "Hey brah. I see you're walking off with my kid. How can I help you?" Well that's not real world.

I don't think what happened was justified at all and I hope the dude sues the shit out them. And if I inferred his beating was justified than I didn't do a good job stating my opinion.

You shouldn't walk off with a baby bear cub you found and you shouldn't walk off with human child either much for the same reason.