I was just reading about the father who beat his 4 year old into a coma in Rome at the Piazza Venezia and it flashed me back to a traumatic experience I had watching a man beat his girl friend parked by the Tiber.Geez, I know this horrible stuff happens,I just can't believe they do this stuff not only in public but in most touristy places.Sick ,sick ,sick! I only imagine how horrified the onlookers must have felt

Is what's bothering you is that it happened in a tourist venue?????

I assume these actions were carried out by "locals."

So much for wanting to be close to same and "fitting in."

No, dukey, everything is blamed on foreigners these days.

What's unusual about the story is that no one stopped this person. Neither picture-snapping tourists or local Italians, who truth be told, are usually protective of children and not shy about expressing their opinions or getting involved in street happenings.

The man in Rome with his child was visiting from Paris Ibelieve.

A Canadian tourist did intervene. Here's the story:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...15047382?f=rss

Zeppole, yeah right...
When this happens to you, one is in shock and disbelief ,and you don't know what to do.

I also witnessed one other beating (Utah) and a police brutality incident...I was powerless to do anything but make a phone call.I'm just saying, you are on vacation and prepared for pickpockets not this....

what kind of mother goes on vacation and leaves their kid with a mental case.

Thanks for posting the story. It's terribly sad. I can't find any way to be judgmental.

Tragic as this truly is, the man was apparently in the throes of a psychotic episode and bystanders, did, indeed, intervene.

Thankfully we've evolved since the days of the Kitty Genovese incident in NYC in the 1950's.

What kind of woman would go off and leave a 4 year old child with a boyfriend (?) who is psychotic. Talk about brainless!

After all, it is generally mothers who kill their children rather than fathers. Probably because they spend more time with them.

Why is everyone getting at the mother? It doesn't say her husband was known to be psychotic. He was being treated for a psychiatric condition. It could have been something quite minor. Having mental health problems is something that affects many people, many families, and isn't necessarily a reason not to leave a father with his child.

Psychotic episodes can be triggered very very quickly. This could easily have been his first one. A relative of mine had a psychotic episode and he was literally fine one day and completely insane the next - without any history.

It's a terrible tragedy and both parents deserve a little compassion.

<i>I only imagine how horrified the onlookers must have felt</i>

You might be surprised. There was another high profile case very recently, in Italy, where two girls drowned and many didn't even bother to look up while their bodies were lying on the beach. The Archbishop of Naples (among others) is pretty steamed about the indifference a lot of the sunbathers showed. I would, however, probably attribute much of it to shock and the fact that many may not be mentally prepared for such a thing.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/eu...ing/index.html

I don't know if it was significant that these girls were Roma.
Human beings are odd.

This is a case
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006...ain.travelnews

of tourists on a beach behaving with great compassion to a boatload of illegal African immigrants

It would have to be a Canadian who tried to intervene. They are the best!

You are right we cannot judge them.. I never went on vacation without my kid...
I never went to Rome with a kid in July who may or may not have had other issues
Traveling can be so stressful....everyone makes choices they must live with...too bad it involves the innocents.

Thank goodness there are still people who stick their necks out to help others...when they are visiting other countries.I will always think of these events when I visit Rome(in this case) the same way people think about a Dallas street, a tower on the University of Texas campus,a spot in NY towers once stood, or a Thailand beach..

Sometimes people who observe an incident like that are paralyzed with disbelief. I had an incident not as bad where I just did nothing, and later a psychologist told me it often happens. She had a patient who was caught in a shooting at a bank, who knew she should drop to the floor so she would be safer, and literally could not move until it was all over.

As for not looking at the bodies of two girls who drowned, I would not want to be a gawker. I'd feel as though it was disrespectful to go and look.