A Dollar General store clerk whipped boy with a belt according to an ABC report posted today. Sources say the Georgia Dollar Store worker is facing a battery charge after she was seen on a video "allegedly whipping a customer’s child at least 25 times with a belt behind the counter of the store where she worked."
Emilia Graciela Bell works at the Dollar General in Wrightsville, Ga., where she claims 8-year-old Logan Ivey, who was in the store with his mother, had thrown a battery and a cookie at her. Apparently annoyed with the unruly ways of this child, Bell, 39, admits to whipping the him with her belt.
She was arrested on Thursday at her job, and charged with aggravated assault, but on Monday the charge was changed to cruelty to children since investigators saw additional footage revealing Bell had actually hit the child 16 to 18 more times than was originally thought.
“There were two different angles from different cameras in the store,” says Wrightsville Police Assistant Sheriff Bill Thompson. “They’d only watched the first when they arrested Ms. Bell. After finding out another camera had caught it, you could see her striking the child 16 to 18 more times.”
Police say Bell struck the child, who was in the store with his mother, 25 to 28 times. According to reports, Logan was trying to hide from Bell behind the counter.
“She had him behind the counter,” he said. “She had him on the floor at one point. It was pretty bad, looking on the video.”
In no way should what Ms. Bell did to Logan be acceptable, but what exactly was his mother doing while her child was, at one point, being held down on the floor and whipped with a belt by the store clerk 25 to 28 times? Also, why was his mother allowing her 8-year-old child to throw things at other people?
What are your thoughts on this incident?
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