Father Charged with Battery After Boxing (and Bloodying) His Son, Then Posting Video to Facebook

A Virginia man named Tavis Sellers recently turned himself in to the police after a video of him boxing his 17-year-old son was posted to Facebook.

Sellers says the boxing video was made as a form of discipline for his teenage son, and that he was attempting to teach the teen how to defend himself as well. According to Sellers, his son walked out of class and did not let him know about his behavior, which led to the video.

Before the boxing in the video begins, Sellers says “He can walk out of class, but call me so I’m on your side. All day went by, he didn’t call—so now it’s discipline time because he didn’t do what I told him to do. He chooses to do what he wants to do.”

Once he says that, the two begin sparring. In the midst of sparring, Sellers manages to bloody his son’s shirt, and makes the young man speak into the camera. According to Fox 5 DC, the caption under the original Facebook video read “Blessings come in all forms, and mines 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.”

After the video was posted, child protective services was called, and they went to Sellers’ residence to find out more once the video went viral. From there, Sellers and his son made a response video to the visit from CPS, with the son acknowledging that the video did more help than harm, saying “it wasn’t that serious.” CPS came back and removed the boy out of the home once the second video surfaced, and Sellers turned himself in to face charges. The Virginia man was released on an unsecured bond, and may be facing additional charges.