MadameNoire Featured Video

To spank, or not to spank? That is a question that has been debated for years by people. Some say that spanking a child is a form of child abuse, others say that if you don’t, then a child will surely get out of line. As people (and the bible of course) say, spare the rod, spoil the child. But a mother in Brockton, Mass. reportedly tried to discipline her very “active” child while shopping at a supermarket, and she wound up not only being arrested and charged with assault and battery, but losing custody of her son as well.

According to The Enterprise, Marie Lyssa Mars, 42, was in Shaw’s Supermarket on Saturday, shopping with her 5-year-old son. At one point, the boy became a little too restless in the store while she was preparing to check out, and Mars wound up spanking him in front of other customers in the store. According to The Enterprise, customers in the store actually tried to step in to tell her to stop, and it’s unclear whether or not she continued on. When she finally left the store with her son, irate customers (“nearly a dozen”) actually followed her outside and took the license plate number for her car. This information was forwarded to police, and a short time after she pulled off from the supermarket in her Dodge Caravan with her son, she was pulled over by police and arrested.

When questioning the mother, Mars was asked if she had put her hands on her son in the store, and she said yes, claiming that the boy was “a very active child,” and according to Brockton police Lt. William Hallisey, Mars said that she was just trying to discipline him. Surveillance cameras in the store also captured the incident, but that video has not been released for the public. The state of Massachusetts’ Department of Children and Families now has custody of the 5-year-old and Mars has since been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a child under 14 (it’s unclear what the “weapon” was), as well as simple assault and battery. In the case of both charges she has pleaded not guilty. Her bail was set at $5,000 and she is due back in court on March 3.

Comment Disclaimer: Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed 200 words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. XOXO-MN