Buster

Florida Dad Arrested For Egging Teen Son On In Street Fistfight

A Florida man is facing child abuse charges after a video surfaced this week showing him loudly coaching his son as the boy fights a fellow teenager.

Philip Struthers, 41, was arrested yesterday afternoon by Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputies. The self-employed Tampa contractor, pictured in the mug shot at right, is currently being held in lieu of $2500 bond for felony child abuse and a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a child.

According to a sheriff's report, Struthers egged on his son last Thursday afternoon as the boy fought a fellow 16-year-old outside the Struthers residence (the teens were brawling over a girl). As seen in the video, Struthers can clearly be heard yelling encouragements such as, “Knock him out, Jake,” “Punch his eyes out,” “Slam his head on the ground,” and “Punch him, punch him.”

Deputies learned of the fistfight Monday when a neighbor of Struthers contacted them and pointed deputies to the online video, which was first posted on a hip-hop web site.

On a related note, a Florida woman is facing trial next month for cheering on her 16-year-old daughter as the girl fought with a classmate. April Newcomb was originally charged last September with felony child abuse, but that count was later reduced by prosecutors to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.

Comments (17)

I am sure he was confusing family time with the Jerry Springer Show.
What a fat *** retard! This dork is everything that is wrong with this country. Look at his smug face while being booked, are you kidding me? First of all fighting is not a game unless in the ring, plenty of people have died in street fights. So for this idiot to have told his son to bash someones head into the asphalt makes me wonder how his stupid ass hasn't had this fate befall his self. Don't tempt fate dumbshiat!
Springer Show auditioning!
Poor Philip's intellectual DNA is obviously twisted up, looped, and tied multiple times into an elaborate Gordian knot...ths is one reason why the world does not trust Americans.....
Why do these things always seem to happen in Florida?
You're right! These YouTube fights really are a happening mostly in Florida, for whatever reason. Victoria Lindsey, the infamous cheerleader who was beaten by her "friends" happened in Lakeland, Florida. Holly Ireland who was beaten up by Josephine Pugliesi at a sleepover in Crystal River, Florida. April Newcomb the mother who encouraged her daughter to fight in Tampa Florida. So on and so forth. I watch Inside Edition who covers most of these stories since 2006 and there is one fight after another coming from Florida. My co-worker who's from Miami says that the state is way too lenient on violent crimes. The geographic observation of these fights is a good catch though! I think that should be investigated.
Investigate or just go with it. I'm thinking Florida could work this. "Florida: come for the sunshine, stay for the street brawl." I'm sure there are marketing people that could really spin this.
Don't be gullible....these things happen everywhere. However, when you have a conservative governor (as we did with Bush and now have with Scott) and a large electorate, the national liberal media (and liberal sites such as SG) go out of there way to paint the bleakest of pictures of our state. Trust me, your neighbor would cheer on his kid to kick your arse if given the chance.
I'm not naive, I understand that these fights happen everywhere. In regards to the media, I'm not referring about the publicity surrounding particular YouTube fights, I'm focusing on the fact that a large majority of these viral videos are predominantly taking place in Florida. I was trying to illustrate a point about location. The bulk of these YouTube fights, high profile or not, come from Florida. As far as my fellow neighbor cheering on his child to be violent to me or others is probably due to the fact that we are living in a time of disrespect for one another. Florida seems like a beautiful place to live so my comments about your state where not to be taken personal, I live in Seattle and the bus tunnel incident was embarrassing as a resident. I'd like to share that it seems like this trend is happening with youth all across America but with an emphasis in Florida. Every state has their particular problems, ex. violence, rape, DUI's, more so than others. The news can only sensationalize to an extent, statistics are proof. Girl on girl violence has become an FBI statistic because of the increase and location is part of the research. Peace my friend.
I wonder how he would have reacted if the other kid had beat the crap out of his kid...