Mom Chokes Bully Over Facebook Comments

[alittlelark]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/mom-chokes-bully-over-facebook-comments-184942862--abc-news-topstories.html

A Florida mom said she regretted choking a boy who bullied her daughter online, but said his "nasty" and "disgusting" comments about the girl on Facebook had gone too far.

"The boy tells my daughter that she is a fat f*****g whale and didn't deserve to live because she is so nasty that he wouldn't even rape her," Debbie Piscitella explained on Facebook.

<snip>

Piscitella was arrested on a child abuse charge on Tuesday and was released on bail.

"I just snapped. I didn't put both hands on his neck it was just one hand, yes I shouldn't have done that, but you all do not even come close to understanding all the torment they have put my child through," Piscitella wrote.

What would you do?

33 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	The same thing.
	0 (0%)
	Use both hands.
	29 (88%)
	Given him a stern lecture.
	0 (0%)
	Tell a mall cop he tried to sell you weed.
	3 (9%)
	Walk past, ignoring him.
	1 (3%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[freshwest]

1. Disable the Facebook account.

[alittlelark]

3. The internet is forever...

Do you have kids?

Not trying to be snarky, I'm just asking.

[freshwest]

7. Not on FB. Adults disable their own Facebool accounts for privacy. I don't FB, either.

It's not private and it's not mandatory to be on FB, kids can live without it. I know a lot of people who don't even watch TV and they are not stupid, either. There are many family activities for people to do.

And there are other means of keeping in touch with friends. By phone or email or meeting them in person and actually doing something that makes a difference in their communities.

The people I know who are on FB with their families set it so they don't get harrassed and don't play games with other people that lead to harrassment.

A lot of things could have been done prior to strangulation. Although my first response on the poll was to use both hands, but I abstained. Yes, I know kids can get hurt and I don't like it. Not everyone lives their life the same way.

[daaron]

19. THIS! ^^^

My kids figured out that Facebook was stoopid before I did. Now only their grandma (my mom) uses that evil corporate spy machine and bully petri dish.

[Scootaloo]

2. Long ago, in the early days of Internet messaging...

Some doofus kid in my town was using his ICQ account to send all sorts of filth to everyone else he found from our town on ICQ. Now, the thing is, this jackass was the teenage son of a friend of my mother. It was pretty easy to find out who he was, since he was using his parents' ICQ account...

Next morning, I called her up, and read to her all the comments he had sent. I suggested she look in her ICQ history for proof.

Her reaction? She sold his personal computer, all three of his game systems, and notified the school that he was to have no unsupervised computer access on school campus.

I don't know what I would have done if I were precisely in the position of the young woman's mother. Choking the asshat doesn't strike me as a very good response (though I imagine it was satisfying at that moment.) Giving him a lecture yourself would be unproductive, and there's - to my understanding - no real legal recourse to take.

best hope would be that his mother - or father - would be unhappy with their son defining a girl's worth by whether or not he would rape her.

[alittlelark]

4. She had the right idea!

[Zalatix]

5. What he said will come out in the trial.

I bet this ends in a hung jury.

[ManyShadesOf]

6. "wouldn't even rape her"?!!!!!

start a school/community/family discussion on that disgusting violent hate speech

[Ilsa]

30. Turn him in to the authorities.

He's implying there are girls he would rape. Kid needs some serious re-direction away from a life of very violent crime.

On edit: minimally, turn him in to both school counselors and state child abuse authorities. He and his family need to be examined for why he is so prone to wanting to rape girls.

[ManyShadesOf]

35. yes

"He and his family need to be examined for why he is so prone to wanting to rape girls" or use the word in such a bizarre way.

[awoke_in_2003]

8. I voted "use both hands"...

but I am a little ashamed of it (only a little)

[sabrina 1]

24. Me too. I probably wouldn't in reality. But I fully understand her doing so.

[ZombieHorde]

9. Shouldn't making the bully's parents aware of the comments be an option? nt

[jp11]

12. Nope.

More rational and realistic options fall under pass.

[Posteritatis]

13. Well, they certainly are now. (nt)

[alittlelark]

16. Maybe they were already aware.

The article did not say.

[ZombieHorde]

17. True, we don't know the detials. I just know contacting the parents and school is more

preferable to me than ruffing up the bully a little bit. I understand the frustration of the parent, and I understand the desire to ruff up the bully, but actually doing so is a terrible idea.

[AverageJoe90]

10. I do feel sorry for this mom.

I just hope this can be resolved without a prison sentence.....

[MrSlayer]

11. I would have had a nephew or cousin kick his ass long before this run in.

Or hired a neighborhood junkie if those options were unavailable. In the city, that's how it is.

[Suji to Seoul]

14. i voted use both hands

because the option "hold his head under the water until the bubbles stopped" was not there.

[CakeGrrl]

27. I voted the same.

I just got finished reading about a couple of more suicides over relentless bullying.

I have no patience for this evil behavior. I was never, ever wired to taunt other kids that way, and there's something wrong, IMO, with those who do so repeatedly and viciously. When they push another child to end the pain they cause with suicide, I'm done worrying about the bully's well-being or motivations.

[etherealtruth]

15. I couldn't choose an option ....

... but I certainly understand the desire to "use both hands." Its not the "right" reaction .... it sure is an understandable reaction.

[FedUpWithIt All]

18. Other: I'd have contacted his mother, father, grandmother/grandfather, teachers, principal...

"cousin's girlfriends, neighbor", and anyone else necessary to get appropriate attention directed at the situation. I have no issue talking loud and long until i see a response. In direct contact with the boy i would have informed him of my intended plans and warned him that i would press charges if he ever mentioned a violent action in reference to my child again.

I'd also seriously consider removing my kid from any contact with him, using whatever means necessary, both at school and in public.

And most importantly, i would work like hell to teach my daughter her true value and teach her that her self worth comes at a much higher cost than the little twit at school has the character wealth to afford.

[alittlelark]

21. You are a better person than I.

[fujiyama]

20. I'm just glad I'm not growing up or going to school in this new facebook age

I've seen the effects its had on kids and there's a lot of it that simply is not positive. There's just too much out there from cyber bullying to the ridiculous "friend count" - inevitably leading to many kids feeling more inadequate and more insecure especially if they're not particularly popular or one of the "cool kids".

Facebook can be a very valuable tool but considering what it can do to adults' brains, I have no idea how screwy it is for kids. And it's very difficult for adults to screen every aspect of their kids' social networking habits.

[Ruby the Liberal]

23. +1

I can't even imagine. At least when I was a kid, you left school and hung out with your neighbors/friends. You weren't subjected to it 24/7 like now.

[fujiyama]

29. That's exactly what I was thinking

At least when I left home as a child, I had the choice of calling my friend(s) to see if they wanted to hang out and go ride bikes or simply sit in the house, do homework, play video games or watch TV. There was a strong distinction between school and home. Once I got home, I didn't have to pay attention to what everyone else was doing. And in all honesty, I never cared or felt like I should have cared.

[Ruby the Liberal]

22. "Tell a mall cop he tried to sell you weed"

Can't vote - the article didn't say how old the little prick was. If he's old enough to be talking rape, he's old enough for an ass whipping. Prolly should have found someone closer to his age to do it though.

[JonLP24]

25. Anything

but choke the child unless I wanted child abuse charges.

[Skip Intro]

26. I would have slapped the crap out of the punk until he learned a lesson

spare me the pc bs, you mess with my kids, you mess with me...

[BlueStater]

28. I really can't blame her.

That kid sounds like one nasty little turd.

[TransitJohn]

31. Other--get a restraining order and force the school district to expel him eom

n/t

[baldguy]

32. What punishment did the boy receive?

My guess is that he's still walking around free, still logging onto Facebook & other sites, still allowed to torment & torture other children - with no repercussions whatsoever. Until someone decides to strangle him, break his bones or kill him.

Cracking down on bullying protects potential bullies from being assaulted.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

33. Contacted a lawyer

[99Forever]

34. Givin that our "justice system" seems more interested...

.. in protecting bullies than it is their victims, at some point we'll will have had our fill and will take matters into our own hands. Mess with mine and I take it personally. Do it at your own risk.

[randome]

36. Walk past.

Because Mom facing a prison sentence is SO much better.

What does this end up teaching the daughter? That she IS fat and ugly. Because of the way her mother reacted.

You don't react to something stupid by doing something even more stupid. The second stupid validates the first.

[mrmpa]

37. It ain't child abuse, it's an assault...............

the child abuse charge if found guilty would put this woman on the state register for child abusers, not allowing her to hold some jobs. This was an assault plain and simple, probably at a misdemeanor level.

Child abuse, definitely the wrong charge.