(Memphis) Two different parents arrested and charged after police say they went too far disciplining their children.
Police say in East Memphis, a father whipped his 4-year-old daughter with a cellphone cord, and in North Memphis, a mother allegedly hit her 5-year-old in the face with a beer bottle
An emergency medical worker says she responded to the North Memphis house on an unrelated call and noticed the little girl had a severe black eye.
“She said ‘my momma did it.’ She repeated it twice,” said the EMT, who wanted to remain anonymous.
It was those words and the little girl’s face that made the EMT call authorities.
“It looked like someone had doubled their fist up and punched her a good one.”
The 5-year-old’s mother is now in jail for abuse.
Investigators say when they interviewed the child, she told them her mom, Tornoda Frazier, hit her with a beer bottle in the eye and on the arm.
Frazier denied that in court, but admitted to striking her child with a full bottle of Mountain Dew.
Also arrested Wednesday, on the other side of town, a father named Omer Omer.
He’s accused of allegedly beating his 4-year-old daughter with a cellphone cord because the child was watching cartoons.
“It breaks your heart. It really does. So unnecessary and so damaging,” said Barbara King, the executive director of the Exchange Club Family Center.
“We help stop the abuse and help them begin the healing process,” King said.
She deals with thousands of parents accused of abuse every year and says parents often believe they are doing nothing wrong because that’s how they were raised.
While spanking a child is legal, as long as you don’t leave a mark, King says physical punishment is really unnecessary.
“It doesn`t work. All it does is teach your child this is how you act when you are angry.”
Anything more than spanking is child abuse, something everybody is legally responsible to report.
“She can’t speak up for herself,” said the EMT. “Somebody needs to.”
King’s advice to parents when they are upset is to take a step back and never discipline when you are angry.
She says taking away privileges or ordering a time out is way more effective form of discipline than spanking.
