Police: Officer kills man who beat child to death

The Associated Press
TURLOCK, Calif. — Police killed a 27-year-old man as he kicked, punched and stomped a toddler to death despite other people's attempts to stop him on a dark, country road, authorities said.

Investigators on Sunday were trying to establish the relationship between the suspect and the child they say he killed Saturday night. The Stanislaus County coroner said the boy appeared to be between 1 and 2 years old based on his size, according to county sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh.

"It's been a long night of wondering, 'Why?' — not only for the officers and the passers-by who stopped and tried to help out, but for anyone. Why would somebody do this?" Singh said.

Singh said the coroner does not plan to confirm the identities of the suspect and victim until Monday. Because his injuries were so severe, the child will have to be identified through a blood or DNA test, he said.

The suspect had a child's car seat in the back of his four-door pickup truck. The truck caught the attention of an elderly couple at 10:13 p.m. Saturday because it was stopped in the two-lane road facing the wrong direction, Singh said.

As they got closer, the couple saw the man brutally beating the toddler behind his truck and throwing the child on the ground, according to Singh. Two or three other cars stopped, an unusual number to be passing through the remote area surrounded by a dairy, a cow pasture, a cornfield and a farmhouse, he said.

"What we got from witnesses is he was punching, slapping, kicking, stomping, shaking," Singh said. "They tried to intervene and get involved, but their efforts really didn't have an effect. The suspect was engaged in what he was doing. He just pushed them off and went back to it."

A sheriff's helicopter responding to emergency calls from the area landed in a cow pasture at 10:19 p.m. carrying a Modesto police officer who shot the man to death after he refused an order to stop beating the child, Singh said.

Paramedics tried to resuscitate the toddler, who was not breathing when they arrived. The boy was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No children within the dead boy's age range have been reported kidnapped or missing in Stanislaus County, Singh said.

The incident happened on Bradbury Road about 10 miles west of Turlock, a city located about halfway between Sacramento and Fresno.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Shooting him was the wrong thing to do. He should be taken out everyday and the same thing done to him that
he did to the child, with the exception of killing him. I mean everyday for the rest of his life!

Thanks for ruining my morning.

Horrible story, good shot. Too bad the passers-by couldn't be legally armed in CA.

You can send me to hell if you want, but I wish I was the man behind the trigger.

I saw that story this morning and it's haunting.

I'm glad they shot that bastard.

Always carry your gun with you. There are maniacs out there.

Too bad the folks didn't have the testicles to stop him. Four cars worth of people couldn't subdue one guy, I'm sure one of them had a tire iron in their trunk they could have beat him with...disgusting.

Bill

The guy probley was flipped out on drugs. I read where he muttered, there was demounds in the boy. Also it does make you wonder why the 3 or 4 wittness,s couldnt have ganged up and stopped it as it sounds like he had to be stomping the kid for about 6 to ten minuets!
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9599903

The helicopter landed on the opposite side of an electrified fence. The cop could not get to the sh!thead with anything other than a bullet. This is the first of several articles I have seen on it that mentions bystanders. I had thought that there were none until now. Perhaps they were on the same side of the fence as the officer.

In CA they were probably trying to appeal to his inner child and reason with him. Probably even used hurtful words towards him.
He got all the reasoning he needed, a hunk of supersonic lead. Just a shame it wasn't earlier.

This happened in california. It also happens everywhere there is drugs. You cant legislate morals.

No words.

......moon

If the truck was a black Ranger, then it could be part of the Amber alert that went out in NV last night.

They should have left the guys body on the road for the buzzards to eat..he deserves no other respect from the living..and let's round up the babies mother to see what her story is..what will happen if she spawns another baby?..charge her with child endangerment and put her away for life..no chance to breed or multiply..all5x

A bit early to be suggesting such things about the mother. We know nothing of what led to this.