Dad beats son with belt for not riding his bike fast enough, chokes stranger for intervening (Reno, Nevada)

Sounds like SHAWN NEWMAN is a single custodial dad, though it's not made completely clear. Note comment below about the abused boy and his 7-year-old brother remaining "in his father's custody" despite the fact that the father had lost his parental rights to two of his other children for being unfit. Why the officials decided to leave the two remaining boys in this idiot's custody doesn't make sense at all, especially as the 12-year-old boy was testifying at trial against his father. Talk about putting someone at extreme risk. What were the officials thinking?

What kind of @$$wipe beats his son with a belt, in public, for being too tired to ride his bike up the hill to school after an appendectomy? Meanwhile, the boy's unemployed lazy-butt father only knows this because he is following him in a truck (WTF? Classic control freak craziness at its finest). When a good-hearted stranger calls Dad out on his abusive behavior, the @$$wipe CHOKES HIM. Kudos to dad Thomas Karmona for being the good guy here and defending a child against this insane freak.

Newman is a complete and total public menace. No wonder the son says he's "scared to death of him."

Meanwhile, where is the mom in all this? Is she dead? Alive? Why isn't it explained?

http://www.rgj.com/article/20100316/NEWS01/100316049/-1/CARSON/Reno-man-alleged-to-have-beaten-son-in-public-with-belt-I-am-not-a-child-abuser

Reno father defends right to discipline son as he wishes
By Jaclyn O’Malley • jomalley@rgj.com • March 16, 2010

A 44-year-old Reno man accused of whipping his son in front of classmates and choking a man who intervened Tuesday said he lawfully disciplined the boy and was defending himself from attack.

Shawn Newman, an unemployed construction worker, told a Washoe District Court jury he has the right to inflict corporal punishment on his 12-year-old son and resents anyone trying to interfere. He said he feels comfortable yelling loudly at his son in public and spanking him with a belt in front of disapproving strangers.

“I am not a child abuser,” he said. “I discipline my kids at home and in public. ... I don’t believe in beatings.”

Newman, who said he was severely abused by his parents, was arrested the morning of Sept. 14 after the incident near his son’s middle school in Northwest Reno. Classmates and the Good Samaritan’s son, who were yelling at Newman to stop, witnesses testified.

Newman’s son was whipped, authorities said, because he was unable to pedal his bicycle up a hill toward his school, which angered Newman, who had been following the boy in his truck. Police testified the boy told them pain from a recent appendectomy prevented him from being getting up the hill. The boy testified he was just tired.

Newman said his son stopped pedaling to be disobedient. He said the boy had limited time to get to school and was worried he would be late. Before the incident, Newman was irritated that his son took too long to get to school and was getting lost. That day, his son was showing him a new route, he said.

Trial began Monday for Newman, charged with strangulation and child endangerment, before Judge Patrick Flanagan. The boy testified for two days and remains in his father’s custody with his 7-year-old brother.

Lawyers outside the presence of the jury that Newman fathered two other children but lost his parental rights as unfit, adding county social workers monitor the family.
“He said I’m scared to death of him, and then burst into tears,” Officer Larmon Smith said of the boy.

Smith said Newman told him he had given his son an ultimatum of “taking a beating or start pedaling.”

Thomas Carmona, a father of four, has testified he heard yelling and saw Newman beat his son’s buttocks with a belt as the boy grabbed a wall for support. After the child screamed, Carmona said he ran over to intervene and choked by Newman. Carmona said was unable to breathe and then saw spots.

Carmona said Newman overpowered him and he feared he might be killed. Newman is about six inches taller, and 50 pounds heavier than Carmona.

Newman testified Tuesday that Carmona was not truthful. Newman said Carmona approached him before he struck his son and then yelled at about the legality of inflicting corporal punishment. He said Carmona pushed and struck him.

Newman said after he stopped hitting his son, Carmona assaulted him again. He said he grabbed Carmona’s neck to protect himself.

Newman’s son testified that his injuries came from falling on something the day before rather than from his father’s punishment. He said he had not discussed the case with his father.