What would you have done?

[horselady]

My husband is a patrolman for a well known motoring organisation. Yesterday he went out to a bloke with a boy of about 8 years old. The man was horrible, as soon as hubby arrived and introduced himself, he replied "I'm not interested in all that c**p, are you gonna fix my car or what". Anyway, as the car was being looked at, the bloke shouted at the boy "have you washed your f******g ears today and grabbed the boys ear really hard and twisted it, the lad was absolutely screaming. My husband started to tell him to leave him alone but then thought that he would just keep out of it, the man was the lad's parent after all. All evening, hubby's been going on about it. Just wondered what you would have done.

[saintjohnny]

The trouble is, these days if you intervene in these situations you're likely to get a knife in the ribs. I would have made a note of the numberplate and then got in touch with the police (having made sure that the boy was not bleeding or bruised) and passed the information on. It sounds like a horrible encounter, and I hope your husband is OK.

[horselady]

We have the car registration in my husband's work log. Maybe if we spoke to the police they could get social services to contact the child's school to make sure he's being treated properly. Poor little lad.

[DotH]

i would also tell him to report the incident to his line manager and put in a letter of concern, this is a health and safety issue that should be addressed. THe company may also be inclined to write to the member and suggest they respect their staff more.,

[samuel23]

I'm with saint on this one. Don't intervene, just take the number plate and report the b@stard.

[bobtheturkey]

maybe he wanted to use the ear wax to fix a puncture?

[divegirl]

no need bob!!!

[kipchik]

Your hubbys got more restraint than mine,my hubby would've decked the bar steward job or no job,he's kind of calmed down these days but in some cases,mmmmmmm?

[ELVIS68]

I would definately report the situation, the mans details are with the firm your husband works for.

If he does this to his kid infront of someone, I dread to think what he`s like at home

[Tanglefert]

call the police and tell them u felt threatened.

[Captain Swab]

If the nob had spoke to me like that i would have driven off straight away and inform my superiors asap. No matter what your line of work is you should not be spoken to or treated like that at all. As for the kid, i would report that too.

[horselady]

Thanks for some great answers everyone (yes-even you bob!)

My husbands arranged to meet up with his line manager while he's out working today and have a chat. At 6ft 4" and 16 stone I think they might laugh if he tried to say he felt threatened, the other bloke was, to use hubby's description (a scruffy pathetic little weasel) it's the boy we're worried about.

[skigirl]

This is child abuse and needs investigating. It is not your husbands job to investigate or even intervene at the time esp. if he felt he would be placing himself or even the boy at greater risk but he certainly has a responsibility to report this to the police. The police (child protection unit) will then follow the appropriate steps to ensure this child is protected. Just think, if this man was treating this boy like this when someone was present just think what may be happening behing closed doors. I for one would not be able to sleep having witnessed that and then not act on it.

Good luck and your husband could always seek support from his employers when reporting this.

[angeldraws]

I think the question to ask is 'what if something worse happened to the boy in the meantime and your hubby had done nothing?' It is always a risk but i think your hubby is doing the right thing....