Child Selling Teddy Bear For Food: Cops Feed Boy, Mother Threatens Lawsuit [VIDEO]
An officer from Franklin, Ohio did not respond to an emergency call, but he might very well have saved the life of a 7-year-old boy. After hearing of a boy who was trying to peddle in front of a drug store in the area, Officer Steve Dunham took it upon himself to do a little investigation.
What he found, as the officer later said, "broke his heart."
A 7-year-old boy, whose name has been withheld to protect his identity, is trying to sell his teddy bear for some money. According to the officer, the child told him that he had not eaten for days. The child was also barefoot.
"It broke my heart. He told me he was trying to sell his stuffed animal to get money for food because he hadn't eaten in several days," Officer Dunham said.
The police officer then took the child to a Subway, where they had a meal.
Upon further investigation, however, police officers were appalled at the child's living conditions. The boy's house, where the 7-year-old and his four other brothers lived in with their parents, was in horrible condition.
There were bottles of alcohol everywhere, the stench of cat urine was in the air, and food was rotting in the fridge. There were also dirty dishes all around the house, which looked like they had not been cleaned for weeks, possibly longer.
Authorities opted to remove the children from the home. They had also filed five counts of child endangerment each.
What was rather remarkable, however, was that the child's mother, Tammi Bethel, took it upon herself to voice out her frustrations in social media. Posting on the official Facebook page of the Franklin Police, the mother threatened to sue the authorities.
According to Bethel, the mess in the house happened because her children had friends over. She also asserted that her kids are doing fine, and that she has recently spent $2,000 on their clothes and shoes. Bethel, however, did admit that her son was barefoot on the day the police found him. Nevertheless, she stated that there was nothing wrong with that, either.
"My son has always had fresh kicks! As a matter of fact I bought all of them steph currys at the beginning of summer. Wth is wrong with being barefoot in the summer time? I know tons of ppl that go barefoot and it hasn't killed them yet," she wrote.
Unsurprisingly, the mother's reaction to the police officers' intervention has been widely criticized by netizens, with many stating that Bethel should have bought house supplies and food before spending $2,000 on clothes and shoes. Others were even more stern, stating that the kids should not be allowed to return to the house anymore, considering the neglect that they faced.
