should i have called the police?

Question

i was at the mall today with my kids, they were playing in the center court playground, my son had a bouncy ball in his hand and was running around playing with another boy, when this boys grandmother starts yelling at my son, she grabbed him by the wrist and tried to take the ball out of his hand, she said because he was being selfish with the ball. i was watching my son the entire time, he was just playing, there was no fighthing over this ball. then she grabbed her grandson by the wrist and dragged him about 4 feet. i went up to her and told her she had no right to grab my son and yell at him. i was so mad i took my kids and left after that, as we were walking away she continued to scream at me so loudly she got the attention of about 10 surrounding stores. the only thing i could think to do at the time was to get us out of that situation, but now that i think about it i probaly should have called the cops on her.

Answer 1

You would have been within your rights to call the police. Me, I probably would have punched her.

I'll edit this and apologize, I've been having a really bad day. Punching her would have been wrong but it would have felt good. It takes a bigger person to walk away and you did the right thing by walking away. I have dealt with parents and grandparents like this before. They feel that their child should have the advantage in every single way. Even playing ball. They take their anger out the innocent child that they feel is besting their child. It's ridiculous

Answer 2

The woman should have been reported to the police. She had no right to scream at your son but grabbing him was way over the line. That was a physical assault on a minor and charges should of been pressed against her. She does not sound mentally stable to be in charge of any child. I hope if it happens again the next person will report her.

Answer 3

I had a kid come in my yard in hemet, I did not invite him and told him to go home, he started kicking the dirt at the fire and getting close to a fire I had buring weeds and I told him to stop and go home, finaly I took form hold of him and took him to the edge of the property where his mom and a hemet cop was watching me and gave him a swat of my hand on his rear and sent him on,
the cop then pulled his cruiser up and said , you cant be smacking these kids, I says I can if I tell them to go home three times and they are kicking dirt at my fire, he says, you cant have a fire to burn trash neither, I says yes you can, its an old hemet law on the land when it is screened over like that i said pointing to the mesh of wire over the fire, well he guffawed and left shaking his head but the truth is, if she was doing all that when the kid did not deserve it and your kid aint known to provoke and fight like em wild ones, then I be wondering why you did not punch her in the face one and teach her the lesson she needed learning instead of pushing it off on the men folks? I bet your spicy enough to have done it now it is too late. Reason I smacked the kids rear was he was dangerous and I want to make sure he understood I aint the one he needs be dangerous towards.

Answer 4

Absolutely.

Unfortunately I think alot of grandparents feel they have the right to do whatever the hell they want when it comes to what they feel is others' ''incompetent parenting".

Yelling at you alone is one thing...Grabbing your kid is quite another. Don't let her or anyone else get away with that.

I also think it's important that your son sees you take action when some idiot goes after him.

Answer 5

It is good practice to always notify authorities when ever any- one touches your children.. If it was me, and anyone even touched my daughter, I would rip them a new one, and if it was a man, well lets not go there. You also did the right thing by leaving. If this should ever happen again call immediately, even if it is just to file a report. We must always protect our children.. after all they are our most valued asset. And in todays society, you just don't know who is a predator, or what their intentions are, so why chance it?

Answer 6

Maybe you should have for grabbing your son she had no right to do that and so that it could be on record that you had a problem with her just in case you see her again and something else happens

Answer 7

Well there isnt much u can do about that at this point. You could have called the police if you wanted. She's probably an old woman, with temper issues, so i find it much better to have not called the Police. It would have just made the problem much bigger than needed. Plus she embarrassed herself by sceaming so loud.

Answer 8

You would have been making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Yes you could have called the cops and a disturbance or nuisance charge may have been laid, but only if other people or stores would have backed you up.

Answer 9

There's not much the police could've done in a situation like that. They'd almost have to catch her in the act of grabbing your son and screaming like that in order to have been able to do anything. And even then, I doubt they'd have done any more than just try to talk and reason with her.

Answer 10

Yes, I would have called the police. I would still consider reporting it to mall security. If this woman will act like this in public, how do you think she is acting toward her grandchildren in private? She could be physically or verbally abusive!