Dad charged in beating of 3-year-old daughter (Spartanburg, South Carolina)

Class, let's review this once again. A "spanking" is a quick swat to the butt. If you leave bruising or injury, it is not a "spanking" but a beating.

Read the account carefully and you will see that these parents do not live together, and that this situation obviously involves some unspecified custody/visitation arrangement. Dad sounds very controlling and the child, even before the beating, appears traumatized, anxious, and obviously afraid of being left alone with him. Wonder if all this is court-ordered. Of course, there is no word of explanation. There seldom is.

Dad is identified as WILLIE PAUL GENTRY.

http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120804/ARTICLES/120809869/1083/ARTICLES?Title=Father-charged-with-child-gruelty

Father charged with cruelty in spanking of 3-year-old girl

From staff reports

Published: Saturday, August 4, 2012 at 3:15 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, August 3, 2012 at 10:16 p.m.

Willie Paul Gentry, 52, of 805 Howard St. has been charged with cruelty to children.

A woman reported that Gentry, the father of her 3-year-old child, spanked the child so hard that he left extreme redness and bruising on the child's buttocks. The alleged incident occurred about 12:47 p.m. Thursday.

The girl's mother said Gentry got upset and asked her to leave his home and that their daughter began clinging to her, according to an incident report. The woman told police after the girl began crying, Gentry grabbed her and began spanking her.

Gentry was arrested about 1:03 a.m. Friday and released from the Spartanburg County Detention Facility later that morning on a $500 bond, according to online jail records.