23-year-old Justin Whittington was arrested on Friday in Bakersfield, California after video was released of him punching his young son Jeremiah in the face. It didn’t take long after making bail for the father to respond to the incident via Facebook – explaining how it was all just a “misunderstanding.”
Whittington was charged with a felony count of child cruelty and locked up on $1 million bail. That amount was cut to just $20,000 when the charge was reduced to child endangerment. He got out on bail Saturday.
This is the video clip that went viral. WARNING – This footage, featuring violence and adult language, may be disturbing to some viewers:
Whittington had the following to say Sunday via social media:
“This is all over a misunderstanding. There is more to that video than 12 seconds believe that. If it was the full video you would see the store owner acting like a pedo and jeremiah running in and out of the store being chased by my 8month pregnant wife. Let them all ride the d**k of hate because the truth comes out in the end. The only thing they can do is kill me… Thanks to all these people my son will forever be immortalized by social media. I guess some people do live forever. Love and respect.”
Someone replied by explaining that his son will “see that video one day and if your response is, ‘there’s more to it’ he is going to think that you meant to do [it] and that you feel he deserved it. Whittington added, “My son is strong and he is going to know i fu**ed up because people wont let the situation die down. But i will always be sorry for the whole thing weather it be known or not.”
