Erica Ryan, Accused of Punching 1 Year Old Son in the Mouth on MA Bus, Charged with Assault & Battery

Erica Ryan charged with assault and battery of a child after allegedly punching her one year old toddler in the mouth and hurling expletives at him on Massachusetts city bus.

SHOCK: Erica Ryan is accused of punching her toddler son in the mouth on a city bus and unleashing a barrage of profanity at him. A few passengers on the Roxbury, Mass., bus intervened and surrounded her until the police arrived. Ryan pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge of assault and battery on a child causing injury.

Prosecutors requested bail be set at $25,000; a judge set bail at $500 and ordered Ryan to stay away from the boy. Transit police say the 25-year-old Ryan punched her 1-year-old son and called him names for refusing to eat Tuesday on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus. A "hostile" crowd of passengers surrounded her and wouldn't let her off the bus until authorities arrived, police said.

After police arrived and separated Ryan from the crowd, she shouted, "No one is going to take my baby!" authorities said. Dried blood was around the baby's mouth, police said. Ryan denied intentionally striking the boy, according to a police report. Her attorney, Adelio De Miranda, didn't return a phone message Wednesday.

"I was just trying to feed my baby on the crowded bus, then my hand slipped and I hit him in the mouth," Ryan said, according to the report. However, three bus passengers told police that Ryan had been verbally abusing the toddler with a series of vulgar expletives. Source: WHDH-TV

Um, how do you try to feed your baby and mistakenly punch him in the mouth and then hurl expletives at him? Some people don't deserve to have kids. They really don't.