A Missouri father is facing charges after ordering his daughter to hit another girl, and egging her on while the other child cried.
Maurice Fox was captured on video boarding his daughter’s school bus and instructing her to get violent with the seven-year-old girl.
Fox, who is facing a felony harassment charge and multiple misdemeanour charges, toldKSDKthat he was trying to “empower” his daughter and get her to stand up to a bully.
Footage shows the vengeful dad on the school bus telling his daughter, “Do what I told you to do.”
He then addresses the alleged pint-size bully: “Don’t put your hands on my daughter no more — you hear me, little girl?”
Fox’s daughter begins punching the girl in front of other students, as her dad demands she continue to attack.
“Again!,” he orders. “I want her crying. Again,” which prompts his daughter to keep pummelling the girl.
The dad finally tells his daughter, “Come on, let’s go.”
Fox issued a statement to the outlet defending his actions, claiming his daughter’s school failed to stop the bullying.
“It wasn’t an easy decision. But it was the only thing that finally stopped the other child from continuing to hurt her,” he said.
“I felt I had no other choice as a parent.
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“My only intention was to protect my child and empower her in a world that hasn’t protected her.”
St. Louis County Prosecutor Melissa Price Smith said that even if his complaint was true, his actions were unjustified.
“What kind of world do we live in if we teach our children to resolve conflict through violence?” Smith asked during an interview with the outlet.
“We won’t tolerate that.”
She added: “What stood out to me was how little these children are. This never should have happened.”
