A 23-year-old man who was caught on surveillance video punching his young son in the face is being held on $1 million bond.
Justin Whittington was arrested early Friday morning after the owner of Vest Market in Bakersfield uploaded the shocking video to Facebook.com on Thursday.
“That was horrible, man,” store owner Harry Dindral told the NY Daily News. “The worst thing I’ve ever seen.”
Dindral said he didn’t witness the child abuse in his store. He said an employee ran into the back room where he was working and told him to view the video of the incident.
Whittington is being held in Kern County jail on a charge of felony assault of a child. His first hearing is on Monday, April 13.
The shocking video shows Whittington chasing his son inside the supermarket and then punching the boy in the face.
He then picked the boy up off the floor and shoved him toward his heavily pregnant mother.
The child is seen holding his face and bawling as the mother walked him out of the store.
Police tracked down Whittington at his home after the video went viral online.
The boy was evaluated by medical professionals and he was determined to have no injuries.
He was left at the Whittington home in the care of his mother, Crystal Rhoden Whittington.
Outraged Facebook users flooded the couple’s social media pages with comments. Crystal Whittington left a message of support for her locked up husband on the couple’s joint Facebook page (see above).
In one Facebook post — which she later deleted — she wrote, “The police want to interview me… Funny, I didn’t even remember applying for a job there!”
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