Duct Taped

It was early evening, still light out, in the city where I was working when I was sent to an address concerning an individual duct taped on a front porch. Apparently someone walking by noticed a person taped to a chair with his mouth taped with duct tape.

I parked in front of the address and on the front porch I observed two boys that appeared to be about 16 years old and another boy about 12 years old duct taped to a chair with his mouth covered with duct tape. As I got closer to the porch one of the older boys told me to leave, to stay off his property. He didn’t call the police and I had no business on his property.

I replied with the statement that if his property was located in my city it was my business.  I also told him it looked like the younger boy taped up needed my help. He said the boy taped up was his younger brother and his younger brother needed to be taught a lesson for something he had done. I don’t remember what the younger boy had allegedly done.

I told the older boy the tape needed to come off his younger brother for safety reasons. Being taped to the chair did not allow the younger brother to use the restroom or to obtain water to drink if needed. The tape on his mouth could interfere with his breathing and also the tape could tear the skin when removed.  I gently removed the duct tape from the younger brother’s mouth. He did flinch a little as I gently pulled off the tape. When it was removed you could see redness around his lips where the tape had been. We removed the tape holding the boy in the chair. The boy thanked me for freeing him, but he didn’t want his brother to get into trouble.

I told the boys I wanted to talk with their parents. They said they only

had a Mom and she was at work.  I took down the boys' names and left.

I completed an information report and forwarded a copy to the social service agency in that city in case they might want to contact the family.

As the saying goes, violence begets violence. Controlling behaviors beget controlling behaviors. What kind of behaviors can we predict that younger brother having? Children model behaviors, they see. That’s one of the many reasons why corporal punishment is so bad. The child learns when they do something that displeases someone, i.e. their parents hit them. They grow up thinking when someone does something that displeases them, they should hit that person.  Is that the kind of behavior parents and older siblings want to teach by modeling?