What appears to be a parent’s reaction after finding out that a young boy had posted a prank video on social media is gaining a lot of attention.
A pair of videos that were posted by a Facebook user, claiming to be related to the boy involved, has gained more than 200,000 views in less than a week and has been shared thousands of times.
The first video purportedly shows the young boy taking a bottled beverage from a cooler at the Krispy Kreme donut shop at South Maple Street in Akron without paying for the item. Employees at the store can be heard in the video telling the young boy that there are cameras inside.
The second video purportedly shows a woman bringing the boy back inside the shop and repeatedly hitting him with a belt. The boy can be heard apologizing for his actions in the video.
This first video is similar to others that have been posted on the web, reportedly imitating the actions of another social media user on Instagram (boonk.ig).
The alleged prank videos have surfaced in Northeast Ohio, including a teen in South Euclid who recorded himself throwing a box of peanuts over a Five Guys counter on Cedar Road. In that case, police posted the video on their Facebook page and quickly identified the teen, later announcing that charges could be pending.
“I think this is what mom is trying to teach him a lesson,” said Akron police Lt. Rick Edwards. “This is not okay to do what you’ve done.”
The video has pulled mixed reactions from those in the community. Some agree with the parent’s actions in the video, while others said it may have gone too far.
“I’m sure some people will look at it and say ‘oh my god. That’s abuse.’ But from an investigative point of view, there’s a fine line between abuse and discipline,” said Edwards. “And parents today can still discipline their child in today’s society, that’s perfectly legal.”
The boy's mother, Satin Smith, returned WKYC's request for comment after the story aired saying the punishment recorded on video was in response to finding out her son had taken two bottles of chocolate milk from the shop without paying.
"I'm not raising him to be like that," said Smith. "This generation needs to learn that there are consquequnces to your actions, be it good or bad. That was my point. There is consequences to what you do. You can't take things that don't belong to you."
The videos were posted online by Smith's daughter, but Smith said she was shocked to see the amount of attention it received online.
"I didn't expect it to go as far as it did, but it shows you that once you put something out there's nothing you can do about it."