BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A Bakersfield, California man has been arrested in connection with a stunning viral video that authorities say appears to show him striking a toddler in the face at a convenience store Thursday.
Justin Cole Whittington, 23, was arrested at his home and booked into the downtown jail early Friday on a charge of child endangerment. He is being held on a million dollars bail.
The short video shows a little boy running down an aisle of the store. A man is seen chasing the boy for a few seconds, then walking up and striking the boy across the face. The boy falls to the floor gripping his face and crying. The man picks the boy up by his arm and hands the boy over to a woman who leads him out of the store.
Police say they became aware late Thursday of the video that was circulating on Facebook.
An employee at the store, Vests Market in Bakersfield, saw what happened and told his boss to check the surveillance video.
"I knew it was serious so I automatically ran back there. You know, there's 15 cameras in here, they are high definition so I saw it all clearly and I really wish I didn't see something like that," said store owner Harry Dindral.
Dindral says the video made him sick to his stomach and was shocked it happened inside his store. He called police and filed a report against the man in the video.
"I've seen some stuff go down in my store that nobody should ever see but this was by far on top of the line for being the worse. That little kid getting smacked like that. I understand spanking your child, but full on hitting somebody in the face like that who was so helpless...it just sunk my heart," Dindral said.
Police tracked Whittington down at his home, where he lives with the little boy.
The child was checked out by medical personnel and determined to be well enough to stay at the home. There is still no word what happened to the mother seen whisking the child out of the store.
You and me both. What a ****ing piece of shit.I tell you what. If I would have been there and seen that , it would be on .
"Million dollar bail"!?!?!?!?!?!?!
What the **** else was this dude charged with?!?!? I agree, if i saw that, that dude would be leveled on the spot. That is just terrifying watching a grown man do that to a little kid.
Thanks, that's what we need... another serial killer in 20 years. Idiot.