Elected Official In California Videotaped Beating His Step-Son For Dropping A Baseball

It’s a disgusting story that sounds oddly familiar. An elected official is disgraced after footage surfaces of him beating his child. Last year, the world was appalled by William Adams, a sitting judge who beat his daughter mercilessly with a belt. Later, Adams lost his job, even though too much time had passed for child abuse charges to stick.

Now, Anthony Sanchez, a 34-year-old government official recently elected to run a powerful California water agency, has been videotaped beating his stepson with a belt because the young boy dropped the ball during a game of catch.

A neighbor of Sanchez, Oscar Lopez, saw the abuse and started filming it with the idea of handing it over to authorities. When the stepdad didn’t show signs of stopping, Lopez yelled at his neighbor, challenging him and trying to end the ordeal for the young boy. The videotape itself is both upsetting and nauseating. Honestly, I can’t even look at the stills now without flinching.

It might be one advantage of our rather voyeuristic culture. When we see wrongdoing, people are much more likely to whip out a camera-phone and expose bullies like Sanchez for their behavior. It makes it a lot more easy for people to speak up when injustice or abuse happens. And it gives the authorities concrete evidence to work with. Sanchez himself is now facing child abuse charges, and has been released from jail on bail.

A lawyer for Anthony Sanchez has asked the public to withhold judgment before they hear his side of the story. While I appreciate the need to hear both sides, I have to admit that it’s difficult not to do at least some judging after seeing such disturbing images. You can’t unsee a little boy being beaten for dropping a baseball. And honestly, I’m not sure there’s a story you could concoct to make me sympathize with any parent who strikes their child for something like messing up during a game of catch.

(Photo: Today)