Legal Commentary

Trooper Teaches Parent How to Abuse Her Child

By TChris

Trooper Patrick Sharkey was dispatched to a residence in Caro, Michigan to respond to a complaint of an "unruly child." Melissa Ihrke told Sharkey that her 8-year-old son suffered from attention deficit disorder. According to the Michigan Attorney General's office, Sharkey later told the dispatcher: "Attention Deficit Disorder? One whack with a paddle gets your attention."

When Sharkey instructed Irhke to spank her son with a belt as the solution to his behavioral problems, Irhke objected that she didn't want to commit child abuse. After Sharkey assured her that spanking wasn't child abuse, Irhke administered blows with a belt that were, in Sharkey's judgment, "a couple of love taps." Dissatisfied with Irhke's gentle approach, Sharkey seized the belt. Telling Irhke "you need to do this so he'll feel it" and "I want to hear him scream," Sharkey demonstrated his theory of "tough love" by striking the boy with the belt. Four times.

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Perhaps the most remarkable part of this story is the ending: the AG's office dismissed a felony charge of misconduct, allowing Sharkey to plead no contest to a misdemeanor that will subject him to no more than 93 days in jail and possibly save his job. True, the disposition also saves his state pension (accumulated over 24 years of service), the loss of which would have been a harsh punishment. But why didn't the AG's office demand Sharkey's resignation in exchange for that concession?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 04, 2009 (boomark / email).