Mom arrested after taping tot to wall
A Reynoldsburg woman was arrested after posting video on Facebook of her taping her toddler to the wall so she could do housework without the boy bothering her.
Reynoldsburg police on Thursday charged Shayla Rudolph, 18, with abduction, a third-degree felony. Franklin County Children Services took her 2-year-old son into custody for his safety.
Police said they received information on Wednesday that Rudolph streamed the video live on Facebook. It showed the boy taped to the wall with tape over
waiting to see his firefighter father give him the badge number that his family has carried with the Columbus Fire Division for 58 years. Then came tears. “It means a lot that I get to honor my father and my grandfather and carry this badge on,” he said. “It means a lot to me.”
His grandfather, Lauren D. Smith Sr., first took badge number 220 in 1948, holding it until his retirement in 1978. Then, he pinned it on his son, Lauren D. Smith Jr., in 1989.
On Thursday, it passed from father to son again.
“When Dad passed it down to me, I knew I was going to carry it with honor. I believe my son will do the same thing,” Smith Jr., 65, said. “I’ll worry about him every day.”
Smith III will no longer be associated with No. 1910, which he has worn since joining the division in 1999. His grandfather, who died about 10 years ago, pinned that first badge on him.
Smith Jr.’s last day before retirement is today, and his son soon will report to work for the first time at the division without him.
“You kind of feel like you’re losing your best friend,” Smith III said through tears. “I always knew he was here. I could call him if I have problems or questions.”