Good police work

As eyewitnesses watched in horror, a 27-year-old Turlock man punched and stomped a toddler to death on a darkened country road Saturday night in Stanislaus County before a police officer shot and killed the attacker.
Dan Robinson, chief of the Crows Landing Volunteer Fire Department, came upon the chaos driving home from a late dinner in Turlock. "The man wasn't screaming and wasn't loud, but was forceful, saying 'demons' were in the boy. "Give me the knife. Give me the knife," the man said as he grabbed for a pen in the fireman's front pocket. "There was a total hollowness in his eyes," Robinson said, "like I could see right through to the back of his head."
A Stanislaus County sheriff's helicopter flying in the area on another matter arrived about six minutes after the initial 911 call.
Officers in the helicopter could see the man beating a child on the road. Because patrol deputies were still several minutes away, they decided to land in a field near the man's vehicle. The helicopter's tactical flight officer, a Modesto police officer, ran toward the suspect with his gun drawn, but he was unable to reach the roadway because of an electric and barbed wire fence. When the flight officer first contacted the suspect and tried to get him to stop, the infant was on the ground and the suspect was kicking and stomping the child. The officer demanded that the man stop, but he just continued his assault. The officer, who has not been identified, then shot the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The toddler was taken to Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Rico says this is a weird one; either religion or drugs, or both, were involved...