Portage woman accused of beating child outside business

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Updated: March 9, 2012 8:15AM

Felony battery and neglect charges have been filed in Lake Superior Court against a Portage woman accused of punching her child after leaving a tax preparation office.

Joy Victoria Gibbs, 28, told police she “can whoop my child if I want to whoop my child and there ain’t a damn thing you (expletive) can do about it,” the probable cause affidavit states.

An officer responded to a report of a woman punching her child at about 10:30 a.m. Feb. 3 made by a witness who tried to intervene in the parking lot of Charles Tax Service, 2200 W. Ridge Road, Gary. The caller and several other witnesses described seeing the child being abused, court records state.

Witnesses told police Gibbs spanked the child, who became loud and started crying, before she dragged the toddler in the lobby area, pushed her toward the minivan, threw her inside and began punching her. One witness said the child’s head struck the side door frame as she was being thrown, the probable cause affidavit states.

Police documented redness to the child’s neck, chest and upper thigh, and there was a large wet spot on the back seat of the vehicle and on the child’s clothing, “indicating that she had urinated on herself during the punching,” the affidavit states.

Gibbs was charged with battery and neglect of a dependent, both punishable by a sentence of six to 20 years. Defense attorney Patrick Young has filed his appearance in the case, which is before Judge Clarence Murray, and is seeking a reduction in the $50,000 bail.