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Utah Dad Assaulted At Wal-Mart For Taking 5-Year-Old Daughter Into Men’s Restroom

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 13:39 PST, May 27, 2016

A Utah dad was recently assaulted at a local Wal-Mart, and all because he took his 5-year-old-daughter into the men’s restroom. The incident, almost certainly stemming from the recent national debate regarding LGBT bathroom use, happened during the afternoon of Sunday, May 22.

Chris Adams was shopping for some storage bins at the Clinton, Utah, Wal-Mart with his 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son when both kids needed to use the bathroom. Due to his children’s young ages, and the fact that he’s a man, the Utah dad took both of the young children into the men’s restroom.

That’s when his trouble began, reports Fox 13 Now.

According to the Utah dad, when he got into the bathroom with his two children, another man was already inside. That man, who has yet to be identified, reportedly began his verbal assault on Adams. The Utah dad said that the stranger kept telling him that it was inappropriate for his 5-year-old daughter to be in the men’s room with them. The Utah dad tried to ignore the other man, but eventually his assault escalated from verbal to physical. Ultimately, the man shoved the Utah father, and when Adam turned around, the stranger then allegedly punched him.

“He comes in and shoves me and so I tell the kids to stay in here,” Adams said. “I turn around and I get sucker-punched in the face. I was just thinking I need to get this away from my kids because I didn’t know how far it was going to escalate so I just kind of heaved him out of the bathroom.”

The Utah dad’s bathroom assault then spilled out of the Wal-Mart bathroom and into the store, all while his young children looked on. According to reports, multiple punches were thrown between the dad and his assailant, but ultimately the Utah dad got the upper hand in the bathroom brawl. It was then that he was able to put a stop to the assault by pinning the violent assailant to the ground.

Police were called to the scene of the Utah assault, and the alleged assailant was still inside the Wal-Mart store. Officers determined that the assailant had been the aggressor in the situation, and he was cited with disorderly conduct.

Utah officials are now officially reviewing the Utah dad’s Wal-Mart incident and deciding whether or not to press charges.

According to the Utah dad who was victimized by the assault, the man shouldn’t get off the hook with just a slap on the wrist.

“He needs to be held accountable and be made an example so this behavior doesn’t happen again.”

According to Utah Police Lt. Shawn Stoker, Adams was just doing what he needed to do to protect his kids, and that the yet-to-be identified assailant could have handled the situation much better than he chose to.

“This is a situation where a father felt the most reasonable and safe thing for him to do is to take his children inside the restroom with him, and the customer took exception to that.”

The Utah dad said that while he suffered physical injuries to his ribs and his knee during the assault, he did what he felt was right bringing his daughter into the men’s room so that she wouldn’t have to go into a public bathroom alone.

As Raw Story reports, this violent assault against Utah dad Chris Adams took place at a very tense time in the United States. Right now, an ongoing debate about transgender individuals and the bathrooms that they should legally be allowed to use has translated into a national furor. States such as North Carolina have passed laws that force transgender citizens to use the public bathroom that matches the gender on their birth certificate. National retail chains like Target have responded to the assault on trans rights by telling their employees and customers to use the restroom of their choice.

And in the middle of the heated, sometimes violent debate over trans bathroom use are the everyday citizens. The trans women who just need to pee. The Utah dad who just wants to keep his daughter safe.

Unfortunately for the trans community and this Utah dad, there’s no real end in sight. The Justice Department has issued a recommendation that transgender school students be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice. Eleven states, Utah included, have filed suit against the Department of Justice and Department of Education in protest.

Meanwhile, a Utah dad is being assaulted for protectively bringing his small daughter into the bathroom with him. Women who are androgynous or appear masculine are being kicked out of public bathrooms. All while the anti-LGBT rhetoric gets stronger and more violent every day.

So far, police have not reached a decision as to whether or not they will be pressing assault charges against the man who attacked Utah dad Chris Adams.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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