A Willingness To Get Involved

One evening around 10:00 pm, a police detective in one of our Texas communitites (a child abuse investigator), was at home when the telephone rang. He was assigned a child beating case at one of the local hospitals.


Upon arriving at the hospital, he entered the hospital emergency room and observered the small form of a two year old boy. The seasoned detective reached down and touched the little bruised and battered body; the child did not move and was cold to the touch. Another one - DEAD.


The care of the child had been entrusted to a boyfriend while the mother worked the evening shift at a local business. The boyfriend and the child had gone to grandma's house - another relative, an aunt, was also there - when the boyfriend noticed the child had wet his pants. The boyfriend became so infuriated, he began to kick and beat the child with his pointed shoes and a belt that had a large, heavy buckle. After the beating, he threw the child into the backseat of that car, three to four hours later.


The beating was witnessed by the grandmother and the aunt; they did nothing to try and stop it. After the boyfriend had beaten the child and placed him in the car, they did not call the police, nor child protective services, nor other relatives, nor friends - they did not reach out to anyone to help this child.


Had the grandmother or aunt phoned SOMEBODY - an individual they trusted, or child protective services, or law enforcement, that child might be alive today.