pickett. >> i got on near seventh and market. >> as the bus winds its way through the philadelphia streets, pickett notices the little boy. >> he was running up and down the aisle. >> pickett says he hears the mom tell her son to sit down. >> and she begins spanking him like he was some sort of animal. >> pickett leans forward and reprimands the young mom and >> i said, he's a child. let him be a child. you shouldn't be spanking him like that. if you continue to do it, i'm going to turn you in for child endangerment. she was like, you don't know me. this is my son. i will deal with him any way i choose to. >> for whatever reason, he offers his unsolicited parenting advice, saying he's just a little boy, that's child abuse. >> philadelphia native joe slabojen is a veteran staff writer for "the philadelphia inquirer." over the course of his 30-year career covering court cases, he