When disciplining children, parents must remember not to take things too far. Vastie Coleman, of Houston, allegedly confessed to killing her 4-year-old son, Kyron Barnes, while whipping him for using the bathroom on himself, Sunday (July 14).
The 27-year-old whipped Barnes with a cord in their home at the Villas of Pine Lake Apartments. Coleman reportedly put the child in a bathtub and beat him until he stopped breathing. “Her state of mind is very bad at this point. Obviously, if you lose a 4-year-old child, regardless of how it’s done, that’s part of why she is so distraught,” said her lawyer, Jules Laird. Since she was taken into custody, Coleman is said to be on suicidal.
Paramedics arrived at the scene to find the boy unresponsive, and rushed him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. After her arrest, Coleman’s other children, ages 6 and 8, were placed with a foster family. Coleman was set to appear for an emergency custody hearing Tuesday (July 17), to determine whether or not her other children should live with relatives.
The mother of three has a history of abusing her offspring, and was the focus of investigations brought on by Child Protective Services in 2007, 2009, 2010, 20011, and in April of this year.
While Coleman’s story appears to be an unfortunate incident that got out of hand, Texas has been in the news for some bizarre criminal activity lately. As previously reported, a Dallas man was arrested for driving his truck through a local mall for a pair of Air Jordans. Elsewhere in the state, another man was arrested for killing and eating his roommates dog while high on bath salts.