Woman charged with battery for shoving 12-year-old kid who was biking in a gated community
By Mike-Ross
A Santa Ana woman grabbed a young boy who was safely riding his bike on the sidewalk of a gated community and even smacked him. The whole thing was filmed on Jeffrey Vandervort's GoPro camera which was strapped to his chest.
"I was trying to get off the sidewalk and she started walking over to me all aggressively," revealed the 12-year-old boy, according to CBS News. "I'm like 'Whoa what's going on." In the video of the confrontation, the 79-year-old woman identified as Susan Garcia seems to be extremely agitated to find kids riding their bikes on the sidewalk.
As Vandervort slowly nears her, she gets in his way before aggressively confronting him. "Get the hell off the sidewalk, now," she yells before pushing him towards the street. "Excuse me! Please don't touch me," says Vandervort but despite his warming, she goes ahead and smacks him in the back. A shocked Vandervort can be heard asking, "Why did you just hit me?" to which the "neighborhood Karen" responds, "Want me to hit you again?"
"She walked over to me and just started yelling and pushed me into this little tree and then hit me in the back," the 12-year-old told KTLA. He then began calling for his mother, who was inside, making Garcia all the more furious. "Come on out mom, let’s have a little talk with mom," he says in the video as Whitney Gregory, his mother comes outside her home.
Whitney backs up her son saying that he had nearly been hit by a car recently and so she had advised him to stick to the sidewalk. But Garcia exaggerated their entire encounter and told the mom that her preteen tried to run her over while she was harmlessly walking, which definitely was not the case. She then went on to shame the parents towards the end of the video as the boy's father joined them too. "Shame on you!" she yelled before retreating.
"You know obviously after watching the video I was absolutely just furious. I immediately called the police after seeing the video," shared Whitney. "People in the neighborhood should come directly to the parent, they should never confront a child, harass a child. It’s so outrageous." After watching the video, Vandervort's parents decided to call the police and press charges against Garcia who now faces battery charges.
"Any type of assault whether it's on a child, whether it's on an adult. It is serious. It's something we need to investigate and we take it seriously," assured Sgt. Maria Lopez. Although you're not supposed to ride on the sidewalk, it's not a legal rule but rather a courtesy. As for shoving a child, that's definitely against the law.
Cover image source: YouTube Screenshot | KTLA 5
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