Ohio father seen brutally beating 3-year-old son more than 30 times with looped cord in grocery store parking lot
COLUMBUS, OHIO: A 27-year-old father turned himself to the authorities less than 24 hours after the police released surveillance footage where he was seen hitting his three-year-old child dozens of times with an extension cord in a parking lot of a store.
Robert Lee Slocum was arrested after he was seen in the security footage beating his toddler son for about a minute and then proceeding to leave the kid in the car as he went shopping with his three other children and their mother. He was charged with assault, domestic violence and child endangerment with a bond set at $75,000.
"He saw the video yesterday and decided that he wanted to turn himself in which he did this morning through a local church," Detective Andre Edwards of the Columbus Police Special Victim's Bureau said at a press conference, Daily Mail reported. "The children are safe which is first and foremost."
In the disturbing video, the accused was seen outside a local grocery store holding his young son suspended in midair as he smacked him hard repeatedly with a looped cord. The victim's legs could be seen dangling as he squirmed from the punishment being doled out by his father.
The footage shows the kid being struck at least 35 times. Authorities said that the cord could be seen hitting "bare skin."
"[Slocum] saw the video and admitted it was very disturbing. He did appear to be extremely remorseful," Edwards said. "The force that was used... It's almost unacceptable. I don't know what the kid could have done. It's excessive."
The police thanked the community for helping them catch the perpetrator. Within 30 minutes of posting the video online, which has since been removed, the police received at least three calls from tipsters. Multiple people from the community helped identify Slocum.
"The fact that so many people called in so rapidly, it was incredible," said Edwards. "I couldn't have asked for a quicker response."
Slocum was ordered to have no contact with the child he beat. He also cannot have any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.