Sean Martin
March 22nd, 2005, 03:28 PM
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TINLEY PARK, Ill. — The woman caught on videotape beating her child in a department store parking lot was expected to plead innocent at her arraignment Monday afternoon in Indiana.
Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, was charged with felony battery to a child, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. She surrendered to police Saturday.
Toogood was to plead innocent at her scheduled arraignment, rescheduled to 1:30 p.m. EST Monday, in St. Joseph County, according to her attorney, Steven Rosen.
"People might think I'm a monster," Toogood said Monday morning on a cable television news show, "but I've been a mother for six years, and no harm has come to my children before this, never."
"All I can say to everybody else" is "'I'm sorry,'" she said. "That's all I can say."
Toogood told reporters Sunday she hit her 4-year-old daughter, Martha, in the head and back and pulled her hair -- but did not punch her.
On a surveillance videotape of the Sept. 13 incident, which has been televised nationally, Toogood appears to make punching motions toward her daughter, who is mostly hidden within the sport utility vehicle.
"Martha didn't deserve what she got," Toogood said. "I just lost my temper."
The girl, Martha Toogood, was placed in foster care when her mother turned herself in to authorities, who said the girl had no visible injuries.
Authorities said Toogood left the Kohl's department store in northern Indiana angry because she was denied a cash refund for two pairs of jeans; she denied that the failed refund attempt was connected to the beating.
Rosen, her attorney, said he believed the hitting took place because Martha misbehaved in the store, taking toys out of packages and wandering away, prompting store employees to page Toogood twice.
Toogood said she was "horrified" when she saw the videotaped incident herself.
"I was thinking, I look like a monster," Toogood said, crying. "I can't believe I did that to my little 4-year-old girl."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63797,00.html
TINLEY PARK, Ill. — The woman caught on videotape beating her child in a department store parking lot was expected to plead innocent at her arraignment Monday afternoon in Indiana.
Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, was charged with felony battery to a child, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. She surrendered to police Saturday.
Toogood was to plead innocent at her scheduled arraignment, rescheduled to 1:30 p.m. EST Monday, in St. Joseph County, according to her attorney, Steven Rosen.
"People might think I'm a monster," Toogood said Monday morning on a cable television news show, "but I've been a mother for six years, and no harm has come to my children before this, never."
"All I can say to everybody else" is "'I'm sorry,'" she said. "That's all I can say."
Toogood told reporters Sunday she hit her 4-year-old daughter, Martha, in the head and back and pulled her hair -- but did not punch her.
On a surveillance videotape of the Sept. 13 incident, which has been televised nationally, Toogood appears to make punching motions toward her daughter, who is mostly hidden within the sport utility vehicle.
"Martha didn't deserve what she got," Toogood said. "I just lost my temper."
The girl, Martha Toogood, was placed in foster care when her mother turned herself in to authorities, who said the girl had no visible injuries.
Authorities said Toogood left the Kohl's department store in northern Indiana angry because she was denied a cash refund for two pairs of jeans; she denied that the failed refund attempt was connected to the beating.
Rosen, her attorney, said he believed the hitting took place because Martha misbehaved in the store, taking toys out of packages and wandering away, prompting store employees to page Toogood twice.
Toogood said she was "horrified" when she saw the videotaped incident herself.
"I was thinking, I look like a monster," Toogood said, crying. "I can't believe I did that to my little 4-year-old girl."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63797,00.html