Rachael Bellamy was having a night out at a restaurant when she witnessed a mother in another table ,forcing her child to eat his food. She did not like the next incident which was a clear act of child abuse for her. Bellamy immediately recorded the incident on her cell phone and posted it on social media to call attention for the alleged child abuse.
"That child was abused. And I needed to be able to show that," Bellamy told CBS News. "She took her hands, grabbed the child by the face, squeezed it tight. The child started to cry and some rice came out of his mouth."
Bellamy was very disturbed by the incident, specifically how the mother mistreated the child. In fact, one can see in the video how the mother pulled the boy's face toward a plate of food.
She posted the said video on Facebook and such action triggered a police investigation on the said matter.
However, despite Bellamy's good intention many were against her for posting the video publicly, including Grand Prairie police spokesperson Lyle Gensler, CBS Local Media reports.
Gensler believes that the best move Bellamy could have taken is to call 911 or a non-emergency number. He also discourage people who witnessed any crime or form of abuse to turn to social media as it could ruin their investigation when they start to look at it.
Gensler added that posting it publicly might prompt the person on the video to hide and destroy any device used to commit the crime.
On Bellamy's end, she reasoned: "It's the quickest way to get results and to spread any sort of message or get any kind of help you need," CBS Local Media has learned.
Bellamy at the time wanted immediate help for the child because she didn't like what she saw. However, she also did not feel comfortable confronting the child's mother, that's why she decided to take a video of the incident and just upload it.
Although many turned up against Bellamy, her intention was never to shame the mother, but to seek help for the child. "This isn't about shaming the woman. It's about getting help for the child," Bellamy said. She added, "I feel like attention is on the situation."
The next time Bellamy encounters the same incident, she already knows what to do. Bellamy said she would call 911. However, she did not regret her action.
The police is still under investigation and if they cannot find any evidence of child abuse, they will possibly turn the video over to Child Protective Services for further investigation.
