A Georgia father was arrested after being filmed allegedly beating a sobbing child in a Kroger parking lot.
Footage posted online shows the suspect, identified as 44-year-old James Collins, repeatedly yelling at a three-year-old boy inside his white GMC pickup truck to “shut up” and “get in the damn car” as the child could be heard crying.
He then slaps the boy at least three times while yelling, “I told you to shut up.”
The father then begins to reprimand the boy for apparently urinating on himself.
“Stop peeing on yourself,” he yells. “You better pee at school.”
Georgia father James Collins, 44, was arrested after he was filmed allegedly beating his sobbing three-year-old son.
At that moment a woman could be seen stopping and staring at the man.
“Do you have a problem?” he asks. “Mind your own business, woman.”
“I’m raising my fucking son the way I want to,” Collins continues, as the unidentified woman attempts to speak.
He continues to yell at the woman as she walks by while he loads her groceries into the truck, telling her to “get out of my fucking face.”
The man who originally uploaded the video, TikTok user _ainabainab, said the alleged assault occurred on August 7 at a Kroger in Lilburn, Georgia, around 4:14 p.m.
“I called 911 immediately after the incident and gave them his license plate number and the direction he was traveling, so they are aware of this incident,” he said. he wrote on Reddit.
“What bothers me is that they don’t seem to have any sense of urgency,” he continued. “They’re just ‘looking’ for the vehicle, not actively searching for it. They didn’t even ask me for a description of the man.”
“Let’s all work together to get this man to jail, where he belongs, for the sake of this little boy,” the cameraman urged.
Finally, an unidentified woman stops and stares at the man.
She tries to confront him, but Collins tells her to “mind her own business” and “get the hell out of my face.”
Many on Reddit praised the woman who came forward and offered the uploader advice on how to find the father.
“That woman is a real woman,” wrote one Reddit user. “Anyone who would put themselves in danger to defend a child that isn’t even their own deserves all the good things life has to offer.”
Others also expressed concern for the boy’s well-being.
“That poor kid is suffering permanent emotional damage,” another user commented, while a third suggested his “home life must be horrible.”
“These ‘parents’ don’t realize the long-term consequences of their actions,” the Reddit user wrote. “Really, you should have to pass a test to be a parent.”
A fourth Redditor called it ‘one of life’s cruel jokes, that there are people who REALLY WANT to have a child and can’t have one.’
‘Meanwhile, this fucking bastard exists.’
Collins is now charged with first-degree child cruelty and is being held in the Gwinnett County Jail on $4,600 bail.
Lilburn Police Chief Chris Dusik has since said the incident did not occur within city limits and therefore his officers did not respond and are not investigating. according to WSB-TV.
But the Gwinnett County Police Department saying They received several messages and comments about the video, which has been shared thousands of times since it was uploaded to Reddit on Friday, so they decided to open an investigation.
Officers later received surveillance footage from the supermarket and were able to confirm the incident.
Police say the boy suffered minor injuries and is now being cared for by family members. The Department of Family and Child Services was also notified, officials said.
Collins is now charged with first-degree child cruelty and is being held in the Gwinnett County Jail on $4,600 bail.
Investigators have said they cannot reveal further details about the video for fear it could compromise the ongoing investigation.
