Do you have a daughter? If not, imagine that you do. Now, imagine your daughter going to the restroom and a full grown man attempts to follow her into the restroom stall. How would you react?
I don’t know about you, but I would be spending time in prison. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to a father in Arizona.
Melvin Harris, 41, beat a man to death in 2018 for allegedly trying to follow his teenage daughter into a bathroom stall. On Friday, he was sentenced to eight years in prison after accepting a plea deal.
The father was charged with manslaughter, which is more forgiving than the second-degree murder charge he was originally facing.
Harris was waiting outside a QuikTrip convenience store in Phoenix, after arriving there to pick up his daughter and two of her friends, The Arizona Republic reported.
When his daughter came out of the store, she told him that a suspect later identified as Leon Armstrong had tried to enter her stall inside the store’s restroom.
According to police and court records, Harris requested for the store security guard to take care of the situation, or he would. Apparently the guard did not handle it.
The father later told police that Armstrong took a swing at him, so he reacted by punching, kicking and stomping on Armstrong, who died several days later from a severe brain injury, according to FOX 10.
Harris had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge last month, according to the Republic.
If I were that father, and had the chance to do the whole situation over again, I would do it the same. I would go full Liam Neesan on anyone who attempted to harm my babies. Then I would serve every single day of that prison sentence with a smile on my face.