Travis Sellers believed that he was providing the proper discipline for his son when he told him to lace up his boxing gloves. Sellers then turned on Facebook Live and revealed to his followers that his son was misbehaving at school and boxing was going to fix the issue.
Sellers is taller than his 17-year-old son and outweighs him by at least 100 pounds. In the video, Sellers hits the boy several times as the teen is barely able to fight back. When the beating was over, the boy is pictured bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth.
In the caption of the video, Sellers wrote, “Blessings come in all forms and mines [sic] came in the form of a great young man to have as a son. I feel I would be the worst disappointment to him if I didn’t do my best to deter him from choices in life that I have seen lead to destruction. The world now has given us platforms to reach out and show your efforts. A lot of people were hurt by this video. And that was not the purpose. I did it to show what has been working for ME.”
The video received mixed comments as some people called it child abuse and others viewed the actions as the proper way to keep the teen in line and off the streets.
However, the Prince William County Police didn’t agree with the punishment and decided to arrest Sellers.
Although it’s important for men to do whatever it takes to keep their teenage sons focused and out of jail, there are better ways to discipline a child. Sellers never gave his son a proper lesson on boxing and it became a brutal beating instead. Beyond the brutal beating, the child was humiliated in front of millions who viewed the video. It’s an incident that can destroy the child’s self-esteem. It can also lead to the destruction of Sellers’ family.
After Sellers was arrested, child services removed his teenage son from the home. Sellers was charged with domestic assault and has since been released on $5,000 bond.
