[WIOD] REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) A father who spotted his missing 4-year-old daughter naked, yelling for him and banging on a window inside a neighbor’s apartment stormed the home and rescued the girl, Redlands police said Tuesday. Terence Giberson, 52, lives in the same apartment complex as the girl and her father. He was booked for investigation of kidnapping and child molestation, said Carl Baker, public information officer for the Redlands Police Department. Bail was set at $500,000.
The girl had been playing with friends outside her own apartment around 7:30 p.m. Monday, Baker said. When her father couldn’t find her, he went looking. He found her sippy cup near Giberson’s apartment, then saw his daughter in the window, Baker said. After crashing into the apartment, he found his daughter and Giberson naked, grabbed her and ran out to call police, Baker said. Baker applauded the father for using restraint. “He did what he needed to do to help his daughter and he let the police do their job,” he said.
Pretty safe to say that we can skip the 2nd Annual Dad of the Year Award. There’s no one that’s going to be more deserving than this Redlands Dad. I have to admit though, I was really shocked to read that Giberson was still alive at the end of the story. This is not hyperbole when I say I absolutely would have literally murdered that man. Not even a question in my mind. I mean, I could see if you found out about it after the fact, and you knew the guy was getting arrested. But catching him mid-act, with your daughter begging for you? Yeah, you’re dead buddy. I’m not some tough guy, I don’t think I’ve even been in a fist fight since I hit puberty. But I’m pretty sure I would be so enraged that I would completely black out and tear this guy apart with my bare hands. When I came to, I’d be surrounded by the police as I stood in front of a bloody carcass and I wouldn’t remember a single thing about what just happened. I guess you’re a better man than I, Redlands Dad.
