Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Verbal abuse to children

Recently, my little girl (7 yrs old) and her friend (8 yr old) were playing in the apartment building where we live, when the girl who was visiting accidently tripped and fell on a neighbor's foot. The girl apologized, but the neighbor yelled at her and called her an "a**". The girl ran off crying and my daughter came to tell me what happened. I called the office and they said there was nothing they could do about the situation. As this was not the first time that this neighbor has yelled or called children names, I called the police department to asked them what could be done. The dispatcher that I spoke with told me that this was a crminal offense and asked if he could send a car around. When the police got here they also said there was nothing they could do, I explained what the dispatcher had said and they went to talk to the neighbor. Nothing was written down and they only spent approx 3 mins with the neighbor. They did not come back or give us an update. To the best of my knowledge it has been dropped. I'm concerned for my children and other children in the apartments. Is there anything that can be done.


Asked on 4/02/00, 2:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Wilson Michael T. Wilson, Attorney and Counselor at Law

Re: Verbal abuse to children

This could be a violation of Sec. 18.2-416 depending on the circumstances. A private party may contact a Magistrate and ask that a summons be issued against the offending party.

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Answered on 4/17/00, 10:51 am


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