Allegedly Human

Joseph Robert Patterson, age 27, killed Adrian Peterson's son, age 2.

Allegedly.

Prior to the child's death as he lay fighting for his tiny life in a hospital, Patterson was charged with aggravated assault, and aggravated assault on an infant.

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT ON AN INFANT.

Patterson was living with the child and the child's mother at the time.

Patterson has a prior domestic abuse record with a different woman and child, to which he pleaded guilty. According to court records, Patterson has a son with another woman. That woman asked for protection orders twice, claiming he'd choked and punched her, threatened her with a knife and held her in the bedroom against her will.

The mother chose not to pursue permanent protection orders.

I am not sure how deeply to play out the son angle because Adrian Peterson learned only months ago that he had a child with this woman living in South Dakota. Peterson has two other kids with two other women.

He does not sound like a model dad.

So I'll focus on Patterson.

I'm sure Patterson felt it was a fair fight. The 2 year old probably did something to aggravate him, something 2 year olds never do. Like crying or walking or maybe even laughing. Something that proved to Patterson that the youngster was superior to him as a human being.

Patterson couldn't handle this so he told the kid to knock it off. The kid persisted and the situation degenerated into a knock down drag out fight.

The kid probably had the upper hand for a while forcing Patterson to beat and choke the child into submission. The child was admitted to the hospital with severe head injuries and subsequently died.

How do we breed monsters like this?

I have not done the research, but I am willing to bet child abuse and murder is more prevalent in this country than in others around the world. I don't mean to keep bashing the United States but I keep coming back to this feeling of darkness that appears to be smothering and destroying this country.

What the hell is going on in the mind of a 27 year old man that he can look at a helpless child as he beats the kid mercilessly, and continue to beat him as he screams? How does a mind get to that point? What are the factors in his life and in our society that contribute to such a depraved level of existence?

Where did his humanity go, if he ever even had it? And if he didn't have it, why not?

Child abuse and animal abuse are the worst crimes you can commit as a human. Torturing, beating and killing defenseless lives, exerting your power and might completely out of proportion to the victim's.

Looking innocence and trust in the eye and saying "I am going to kill you."

There is no punishment severe enough for a man like this. Painful enough. Appropriate enough. if you killed his own child in front of him he would not care. If you forced him to kill his own child, it would not move him.

It is impossible for the mind to comprehend the horror of this. You cannot put yourself in his situation because it is so vile, so heinous as to be unfathomable.

The child's name has not been released yet. They say to protect the family. Still it leaves me uncomfortable.

I despise referring to him as the child. The kid was alive, he made a tiny mark on this planet. He had an identity.

He was somebody.

Joseph Patterson is nobody. He should never have been born. He should rot in the darkest, most painful and eternally tortuous corner of hell.

Patterson is alive and "the child" is dead.

This leaves me with a gut twisting discomfort regarding how the world works.