"Man attempts to abduct toddler at library"--I am skeptical about this story.

[raccoon]

APD: Man attempts to abduct toddler at library

Father says he punched man to prevent abduction

UPDATED 6:44 PM EDT Aug 01, 2012

ANDERSON, S.C. -

Police are looking for a man who they say tried to abduct a 2-year-old boy who was with his 25-year-old father at a library.

Anderson police were called to the County Library on South McDuffie Street on Monday afternoon.
Lee Whitlock told officers that just before 4 p.m., a man tried to take his son. Whitlock said, “Me and him were sitting out on the pillars and I'd just got through buying him a pack of crackers and a drink. He was sitting on one side of the pillar and I was sitting on the other side and I was watching him. And out of nowhere, I hear this voice that said, ‘Hey, you want to go home with me?’ A lot of people say that to him. I didn’t really think nothing until I saw a hand reach around the pillar and grab him and he gets up. I jumped up. My first reaction -- I grabbed him and I decked the guy.".

Whitlock said after the man ran away and he called police. The punch left Whitlock with bruised knuckles. (HUH??) Whitlock said, “I hit him one time. I am still reeling from the pain of it. I hit him in the mouth and I think his teeth scraped my hand. (I) don’t know if I cracked a bone, but it’s hurting like crazy."


Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/local-news/anderson-news/APD-Man-attempts-to-abduct-toddler-at-library/-/9654706/15920010/-/ousexn/-/index.html#ixzz22Oodl7tG

[Brickbat]

1. Why the "HUH??"

[The Magistrate]

3. Indeed, Sir

"You hit the soft parts with your hand, and the hard parts with a utensil."

[raccoon]

4. Two co-workers and me concurred that that usually doesn't happen when you hit somebody.

It's possible, but I think he hit the pillar or something else. Not a person.

[Romulox]

5. I disagree. Punch somebody in the orbital bone or jaw, and you can easily bruise your knuckles. nt

[raccoon]

7. You may be right. But I think this story is very hinky. nt

[Romulox]

9. I actually agree with you on this part, too. nt

[TalkingDog]

8. According to Straight Dope it's almost impossible to punch someone without

breaking your hand. So how many people have your co-workers "punched"?

How is it you can punch someone and not break your hand?
Short answer: you can't.

Long answer: you can if you get lucky. Broken bones in the hand are commonly enough associated with the action of punching that they're even called a boxer's fracture (http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?query=boxer%27s+fracture). I frequently see X-ray reports where someone punched another person or a wall and broke this bone, or the doctor orders the X-ray on a suspicion for this kind of injury.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-327961.html

[Lint Head]

11. I was sucker punched in the mouth by a bully in High School.

it just stunned me and did nothing to the bully's hand. He did get total suspension from school for the year.

[TalkingDog]

14. I guess he got lucky? Or you did? Or something?

Glad you weren't seriously injured. Glad he got what he deserved.

[xmas74]

16. I'd believe that.

The one time I did it I didn't break my hand but I did bruise it and it was pretty swollen after. I had also jammed a finger.

[xmas74]

15. Unfortunately,

I have to admit to punching someone in the mouth. Turns out your knuckles will swell up and bruise.

Mine were also scraped-the person had braces.

[snooper2]

17. well you have to throw a punch that has more than 5 lbs of force

LOL..

[4th law of robotics]

21. Punching someone in the skull could very well leave you with bruised or broken knuckles

it's a pretty solid bone, dome shaped for maximum strength and frankly that is what it's for: to stop traumatic injury to the brain.

[gollygee]

2. It's a very strange story anyway.

Post updates if any come up. I'm interested in finding out what happened.

Once, in my neighborhood, there was all sorts of talk about some man in a white truck following kids and trying to abduct them. In the end, it was the guy who delivers the local paper. He drove slowly from house to house and stopped frequently.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. There actually was a case in southern Washington state many years ago

in which a murderous pedophile was caught because the kid he tried to abduct in a movie theater bathroom started screaming (as his parents had advised, aware that someone who liked to rape and murder children was on the loose), and several adults came running and tackled the guy.

I can't find the story online, but it was big news in the Portland-Vancouver area at the time.

[Tom Ripley]

10. "Me and him"?

Whitlock needs to spend more time in the library

[MrSlayer]

13. +1

[raccoon]

12. Whitlock said man had shaggy blond hair. These strangers always have shaggy/bushy hair,don't they?nt

[redqueen]

18. There doesn't seem to be anything suspicious about it to me.

As others have pointed out, throwing an effective punch to a bony area will result in pain, and often bruising, swelling, and even fractured or broken bones.

Children are abducted almost every day. This one seems to have been lucky the parent was close by and attentive.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. "A lot of people say that to him" sounds strange to me

Child abduction is pretty rare. Yet this father is claimed it's been tried on his 2 year old son multiple times. That sounds unbelievable, to me.

And what's also strange is that the father didn't think about this until the man actually touched his son. Any father would say "he's my son" if they thought ‘hey, you want to go home with me?’ was innocent (ie an effective "you look lost&quot - or would have been more active if they thought it was an attempt to snatch him.

[TalkingDog]

20. Maybe a regional thing. I've said this to children

My mother said it to children. A lot of people (overwhelmingly women mind you) where I live say it to babies/toddlers all the time. Parent's are always present of course and understand it as a sort of gentle teasing of the child, who almost always says no.

I did have one say yes once and then I was stuck for a response. So I told him, his parents would miss him very badly and so he should probably stay with them.


You are mistaking a nonsensical socializing discussion with a child with attempted abduction.