Abuse or Playing Around?: Mom Drags Kid On Leash

From the WTF files: An Alabama mother has become infamous on these here internetz. 37 year old Melissa Catherine Smith-Means dragged her child through a Verizon store on a backpack leash. Of course, you're in a cell phone store, so someone's bound to catch it on tape. And they did... now it's on YouTube.

Police arrested the mother on child cruelty charges in April but she's still behind bars. As you can see on the tape, the people in the store were too concerned with free nights and weekends to help the kid out.

The boy's father says this is a game the two played. Smith-Means claims the boy liked it. She says she suffers from lupus and pneumonia and could not pick him up. But she had enough strength to hit the celly store?

Smith-Means is now awaiting trial, facing 20 years behind bars.
Pop the "taste the brew" to see the video and tell us if this is a case of child abuse!





So, was it child abuse or just playing around? Does this country do enough to protect its children?

What's your call?