A 4-year-old boy allegedly got a little grabby with a man’s cat in a north Fulton County veterinary office. The cat’s owner said he responded by giving the boy a light swat on the fanny.
The man was arrested and charged with simple battery, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The incident happened Monday afternoon at the Johns Creek Veterinary Clinic on Medlock Bridge Road, according to a Johns Creek Police Department incident report.
A woman who called police to the scene said she had brought a family pet into the clinic, and was in the waiting room with her 4-year-old son. The mother told an officer that “she was having trouble controlling her son,” the police report said.
Trouble began when the boy reached for a cat in a carrier.
The cat belonged to 42-year-old Russel B. Baughcum. The cat recently had surgery, and the Suwanee man was there to pick it up.
Baughcum told the officer that the youngster repeatedly reached for the animal, the incident report said. The man said he told the child to stop, but the boy grabbed hold of the cage and tried to pull it off a chair.
The man said he shouted, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” and struck the child lightly on his lower back and buttocks.
“Mr. Baughcum demonstrated that he struck the child in a back handed fashion, and that the contact was light enough that he didn’t think the child knew he had been touched,” the police report said.
Two clinic employees said they witnessed the man strike the child on his rear when the boy tried to play with the cat, according to the incident report.
The boy’s mother insisted on pressing charges, so Baughcum was arrested and charged, police said. He was taken to the Fulton County Jail Alpharetta Annex. The veterinary clinic kept the cat for him to pick up later.
Jail officials told Channel 2 that Baughcum posted $1,000 bond and was released Tuesday morning. Efforts by Channel 2 to contact the man were unsuccessful.
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