Latia Harris allegedly attacked a woman who was only protected by her 2-year-old son as bystanders did nothing.
Police in southern New Jersey are looking for a woman who was caught on video Tuesday beating a mother in front of her toddler, who tried to intervene.
As bystanders watched and some recorded it on cellphones, police say Latia Harris, 25, pummeled the mother and kicked her in the back on a trail in Salem, N.J. The suspect is heard threatening to attack the victim's 2-year-old son, who was kicking at her legs to stop her from landing another blow.
"You better get your son before I kick him in the f---ing face, too," Harris allegedly yells in the video. A group of people formed around the attack, but only the son protected his mom.
Police Chief John Pelura III told The South Jersey Times that the video is "sickening to watch." She faces charges of aggravated assault and two counts of making terroristic threats, the paper reported.
Pelura says the victim, who was found bloodied and disoriented, was treated at a hospital and told officers a woman named "Tia," who works at McDonald's, accused her of spreading rumors about her and her manager. Police obtained the video before it was removed from Facebook.
"There is a moral and social breakdown in the fabric of our society which is clearly evident when a woman gets pummeled in broad daylight in front of her child while a dozen people pull out their phones to record the incident instead of calling for help," Pelura told the paper. "There is so little regard for human life — by the actor and the bystanders."
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
