Does this amount to child abuse?

[Speedlace]

Got charged with child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and order to stay away from anyone under the 18 including his son.

The father is the loud guy in white black shirt.

All teens need a supportive father such as this.
NSFW Version

Hillsborough dad in fight video says his son was being bullied

LARGO — The father who was videotaped urging on his son in a fistfight with another teenager says there's a lot more to the story than the raw 54 seconds blazing across the Internet.

The online video clip shows Philip Scott Struthers' 16-year-old son fighting another teenage boy as Struthers urges his son to "punch his eyes out" and "slam his head on the ground."

In his first interview since his arrest on a child abuse charge, Struthers said Thursday the video leaves out what led up to the fight. He called it six months of "bullying" by the other boy in a dispute over a girl.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/ap...uraging-teens-fight-knock-him-/news-breaking/
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humani...-video-says-his-son-was-being-bullied/1163882

 

[Hitman]

There you go son, whenever someone offends you and life gets tough you just beat the **** out of them.

 

[uscg4good]

What the eff ever...problem solved. The two kids will probably be best friends now. This country has gone sissy.

 

[Yrdawg]

Street fight with other guy in shorts, probably no weapon, probably no gang to jump in...Pop went way into tacticle when boxing was enough for the kids to settle it.

Me, I think Dad over reacted, arrested ?? no,let it go and it will leave I think.

 

[.45-70]

"Slam his head on the ground".... "knock him out".... yeah, I'd say it fits the bill. I'm with everyone else in thinking things have gone soft and that kid might have deserved a good butt whoopin', but that isn't how kids should be conducting a fist fight. Dont know about y'all but every fist fight I was ever in as a kid didn't involve knocking someone out or potentially causing serious bodily harm.

Usually we beat the crud out of each other and made friends.

Dad is a moron regardless!

 

[tokendog]

What the eff ever...problem solved. The two kids will probably be best friends now. This country has gone sissy.

I agree. Now the gouging the eyes and bashing his head in to the ground part was unnecessary, but every father needs to teach their kid to defend themselves. I'm not talking about trying to maim or kill someone, not by any shot, but at least to throw a punch and to take one without crying about it. I know a lot of guys my age (28) who have never been in a fight. That blows my mind. I was raised to respect others but to be able to dish out respect if needed. Most of my peers wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they were caught in a fist fight with someone.

 

[Jed]

"Does this amount to child abuse? "

No.
Age is just a number in situations like this, no different than a sixteen yr old being charged as an adult when it suits the prosecutor.
Don't think anyone would call either of those lads a child.

Old man should be prosecuted for being a fkin idiot though.

 

[.45-70]

"Does this amount to child abuse? "

Old man should be prosecuted for being a fkin idiot though.

And I think everyone can agree there!

 

[RyanW]

SO should I go back and sue the school system from when I was younger? When we would get into a fight at school, they'd drag us to the gym, slap on the gloves and tell us to go at it. We also took hunter's safety AT school, INCLUDING shooting skeet with the Wildlife and Fisheries. We were about 10yrs old, and it was part of the curriculum.



Times sure have changed, and it sucks

 

[tokendog]

Yep, times have changed. Hell, I'm not even that old and I come from the up bringing that if someone disrespects you, you give them one chance, and if they keep at it then you beat the respect in to them. You don't back down from someone who gets in your face or messes with your family / property. Nowadays it's all talk, no walk or even no talk, just bitching.

I don't agree with the father telling his son to gouge his eyes out or to pound his head in to the concrete. The kids are 16. They don't need to be trying to permanently disable one another or killing each other. A good ol'e fist fight, suck it up if you lost, and get over it. If you won, know its settled, and go about your way. Easy enough. A previous poster was right. Some of my best friends in my child hood came from guys that I beat in a fight at school or after school.

 

[wadepat2]

Not child abuse but yea they shoulda at least fought on the grass. I woulda put gloves on em that way nothing gets broke and let em go at it. If its a "mutual fight" there is no biting ,eye gouging, head slamming , kicking when down or below belt, etc.... "Self defense fight" to win at all cost.

 

[LA_Huntsman]

The dad shouldn't have said stuff like that but what can ya do? Child abuse... no. Deliquency? Since when did standing up for yourself make you deliquent?

There's a metric ass ton of stupidity all around on this one.

 

[fastmover]

if being dumb, ignorant and white trash is a crime we need more jails.

 

[XD-GEM]

SO should I go back and sue the school system from when I was younger? When we would get into a fight at school, they'd drag us to the gym, slap on the gloves and tell us to go at it. We also took hunter's safety AT school, INCLUDING shooting skeet with the Wildlife and Fisheries. We were about 10yrs old, and it was part of the curriculum.

Yes, by all means sue them. Claim it is a recently discovered repressed memory that fills you with dread and makes you impotent - juries love that stuff.

 

[Leadslugga]

Right or wrong, the moral of the story is DON'T POST IT ON YOUTUBE.

If both teens did consent to the fight, the guy wouldn't have been arrested had it not been filmed.

 

[RyanW]

Yes, by all means sue them. Claim it is a recently discovered repressed memory that fills you with dread and makes you impotent - juries love that stuff.

LOL, if only I were that kind of person, the ATF would have a file cabinet just for all my Form 3's lol

 

[yamatitan]

No abuse there get over it move on. Problem solved

 

[#1bambam]

It would have been funny if the other kids dad would have ran up and beat the **** out of him and catch that on youtube.If your the kind of guy that would encurage your son to throw his life away by doing great bodily harm you prolly beat the **** out of your wife if she acts up too.Theres a differance between giving a guy a attatude adjusment and poking his eyes out or bashing his head on the cement and if you cannot distinguish between the two than you are no different than 80% of the ppl that live in my city.

 

[Azimuth]

What would Gomez say

 

[Speedlace]

It would have been funny if the other kids dad would have ran up and beat the **** out of him and catch that on youtube.If your the kind of guy that would encurage your son to throw his life away by doing great bodily harm you prolly beat the **** out of your wife if she acts up too.Theres a differance between giving a guy a attatude adjusment and poking his eyes out or bashing his head on the cement and if you cannot distinguish between the two than you are no different than 80% of the ppl that live in my city.

He has been arrested for domestic violence against his wife.
The charges were dropped when his wife didn't show up to testify.