'He Took It Too Far'
The wife of a Texas man, who slapped a 12-year-old boy accused of bullying his stepdaughter, has said her husband went too far after he was arrested over the incident.
"I do not agree with what he did, he took it too far, he did," James Olander Peace's wife told ABC13 after he was charged with felony injury to a child. However, she added that the whole story surrounding the incident had not yet come to light.
Peace was arrested by police in Deer Park, Texas, charged with slapping a child who had bullied his stepdaughter. His wife, who has not been identified, says court records of the case do not reflect its complexity, adding that Peace was defending her daughter after she was bullied by a classmate, also 12 years old, and another boy while walking home from school.
The boys ridiculed the girl's appearance, reportedly calling her a transvestite and threatened her with rocks. They were "saying that her body was ugly, said that she was a transvestite, started throwing ice cream at her and then they picked up the rocks," Peace's wife said.
The young girl then called her parents and asked to be taken home in the car. It was while collecting her for the ride home that Peace saw the preteen boy and his friend walking, investigators said.
"On the drive home, they happened to see the suspect juvenile walking and that's when the stepdad decided to stop and confront the kid," Deer Park Police Lt. Chris Brown said.
Deer Park Police were able to piece together what happened next using video surveillance footage. The video appeared to show Peace shouting at the 12-year-old, then he struck him.
"He was slapped across the face with an open hand, had red marks and swelling to his cheek and upper jaw," Brown said. According to court records, after he hit the boy, Peace threatened him and told him not to tell the police or he'd physically attack him.
Peace's wife has said the man's instinct to defend his daughter got the better of him. "I do not agree with what he did, he took it too far, he did," she said.
ABC13 reported that Peace has posted bail but is yet to be released.
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