30-year-old mother of six Schaquana Spears went viral on social media after she was arrested for child abuse for whooping her kids’ butts, three boys between the ages of 10 and 13, after they stole a bunch of stuff from the neighbor’s house.
Two of the boys had small cuts and all three had a few bruises after Spears reportedly whipped their butts with an electrical cord and then made them return all the stuff they took to the neighbor and apologize. She was later arrested on two counts of cruelty to juveniles, for which she could face 20 years in prison, and her bond was set at $2,500.
The video below of a news interview shot with Spears after she posted bail was viewed 13 million times on Facebook. All of her children were taken away and Spears lost her job pending the outcome of the charges. Winter Applewhite, who owns a bailbond company, paid $1,000 of her own money to get Spears out of jail because of how unfair she felt the situation was.
Now, after a huge public outcry, the parish DA has decided to drop all charges (via BizPacReview):
The prosecuting attorney thought of what his own parents would have done under similar circumstances and dropped the charges.
“My intent is to not prosecute. I doubt that I’ll change my mind. I don’t think there’s evidence there to help me change my mind,” East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III told CBS affiliate WAFB.
The public outcry on this one was heavily in Spears’ favor, who said she lived for her kids and was just attempting to keep them out of prison (via WBRZ):
“Maybe I should have did nothing,” Spears said. “I still would have been wrong. I would have been unfit. Then they would have been saying you should have disciplined them. I did it and now look at what happened. The system is messed up.”
As Spears reflects on what happened, she’s unsettled about it. She believes if she didn’t administer discipline to her children, they’d become yet another statistic in the system. She was grateful for all the support she’s received.
“That’s what’s getting me through,” Spears said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. In this day and age, I see so many babies getting killed, and I refuse to look at my babies in a coffin.”
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