An Ohio man has been arrested after he was caught on surveillance footage whipping his 3-year-old son dozens of times with an extension cord and then leaving him alone in the car while he went shopping with the mother and his three other children.
Robert Lee Slocum, 27, turned himself into Columbus Police from a church less than 24 hours after the authorities released video of him committing the brutal beating of his son, according to ABC’s affiliate station in Columbus, WSYX.
“He saw the video yesterday and decided that he wanted to turn himself in which he did this morning through a local church … the children are safe which is first and foremost,” said Detective Andre Edwards of the Columbus Police Special Victim’s Bureau in a press conference posted to Facebook.
Edwards confirmed that local authorities had no prior history with Slocum and that the beating lasted for about a minute.
“[Slocum] saw the video and admitted it was very disturbing … he did appear to be extremely remorseful,” Edwards continued.
The surveillance video shows Slocum holding the squirming child outside of his car in the parking lot of a local grocery store and beating his son with a looped cord at least 35 times.
Slocum has been charged with assault, domestic violence, and child endangering -- all first degree misdemeanors – and is currently being held at the Franklin County Jail.
While corporal punishment on children is legal in the state of Ohio, the authorities deemed that the disturbing video went beyond any reasonable punishment.
(MORE: Mother and grandmother arrested after 9-year-old boy stabbed in back of head by 4-year-old girl)“[Slocum used] some type of a cord and it looks like it’s to bare skin … The force that was used, it’s almost unacceptable. I don’t know what the kid could have done. It’s excessive,” Edwards said in a previous press conference also released on Facebook.
Authorities, however, are grateful for the speed with which the public reacted to the online video as they searched for Slocum.
“The fact that so many people called in so rapidly, it was incredible,” said Edwards. “I couldn’t have asked for a quicker response.”