ROME, Ga. -- A Verizon Wireless employee captured shocking video of a mother dragging her child through the store by a monkey backpack leash.
According to a police report obtained by Channel 2 Action News, Melissa Means told Rome police officer Keith Green that she was having problems with her child.
The incident occurred in late April on Broad Street in Rome.
Means, of Gaylsville, Ala., told police that she suffered from lupus and pneumonia and that her son was refusing to walk and because of her health problems, she could not pick him up. According to the report, Means said her son liked being “pulled around by his monkey.”
While investigating the incident, Green spoke with a Verizon Wireless employee who had videotaped the incident on his cell phone. The video was posted on the video sharing Web site LiveLeak.com. Green said the child had a red bruise mark on the left side of his neck from the backpack strap.
Representatives from the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) were notified of the incident and the child was later released to his grandmother.
Means was charged with cruelty to children and taken to the Floyd County Jail.
