Texas Walmart Shopper Allegedly Drags Daughter Through The Store By Her Hair [Video]
A Texas man who allegedly dragged his five-year-old daughter by the hair while he pushed a shopping cart at a Houston-area Walmart is apparently under investigation by local police and child protective services.
Cleveland, Texas, police told the local media that investigators are meeting with the family as part of the probe, which apparently was prompted by a social media post that went viral.
“Police are concerned at this time for the children who may be in the home with the dad who appeared to have been a little aggressive at the time,” Chief Darrel Broussard told KTRK.
By way of explanation of what happened, the man apparently told officers, “His three children including the 5-year-old girl, had been disruptive in the store, and that holding her by the hair was his method of disciplining her,” the Houston Chronicle reported about the Walmart hair-pulling incident that occurred on Monday evening.
A good Samaritan who confronted the man in the store and brought the alleged hair-pulling incident to the attention of authorities when the dad told her to mind her own business posted pictures to her Facebook page.
In her Facebook post, an outraged Erika Burch claims that a police sergeant who responded to the scene in Walmart claimed that the dad “has the right to discipline his children,” and there was no visible bodily injury (i.e., missing hair or bruises) to the little girl that would constitute child abuse.
Police investigating father for hair pulling incident in Walmart: https://t.co/ggWgQ8UPXJ #abc13 #TxNews pic.twitter.com/nLU2P8S9TM
— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) September 21, 2016
On Facebook, Erika Burch described what she says she witnessed on the evening in question in a plea to make the story go viral.
“Me and Robert are in Walmart in Cleveland Texas getting lunchables for our babies for school. Robert said “Do you see what that guy is doing to that little girl?” I turned around to this this pos dragging this little girl by the hair of her head!! He had her hair wrapped around the buggy dragging her! She is begging him to stop! She was saying ‘please stop,I promise I won’t do it again please stop!’ I took my phone out snapped pictures and then told him to let the little girls hair go! He told me to mind my own business! I said ‘No I’m not! Right now this little girl is my business and you need to let her hair go now!…”
The post has subsequently been shared about 130,000 times as of this writing.
“People are telling me I’m wrong for stepping up for this little girl, but you can discipline a child without dragging them by the hair on their head, especially in Walmart,” Burch Told KTRK. “I want help for that little girl so that she knows nobody is supposed to do that to her.”
In the early stages of the probe, CPS investigators are looking into whether or not “a pattern of inappropriate discipline” is taking place in the family, the Chronicle noted.
Another witness claimed the man grabbed the little girl by the hair and pulled her to the shopping cart because “he was angry because she wasn’t standing right next to the basket,” KPRC Click2 Houston reported.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emR-H079UNo
On the department’s Facebook page yesterday, Cleveland, Texas, police responded to the controversy.
“The Cleveland Police Department has received numerous calls in regards to a child having her hair pulled last night at Cleveland Wal-Mart. We want to assure the community this case is currently being investigated by our Detective Division. CPS has been contacted per our policy and is also investigating this case. A joint investigation is currently being conducted by both agencies.”
— ABC7 Sarasota (@mysuncoast) September 21, 2016
CPS authorities indicated that in general, kids usually stay in the family home while child abuse investigations are pending.
[Featured Image by Tony Gutierrez/AP Images]
