Man shouting and swearing at child in street

[TeddyRuxpin]

While out with DD yesterday I saw a man shouting at his little girl in the street.
Little girl was aged about 3 or 4 and was also accompanied by what I took to be the GM.
The part I heard was;
Man: "John has f all to do with you! He's not your dad, I'm your fg dad and you better remember that! I'm sick of hearing about f*g John! "
He was screaming at the top of his voice and seemed really aggressive, the little girl was hysterical. GM said nothing then they went to get on a bus.
Everyone in the street was looking but nobody did anything and I'm ashamed that I did nothing either.
AIBU to ask what you would have done in this situation and what I should have done? Should I have phoned the police even though by the time they got there the people would have gone?

That's just so . poor girl

I bet "Fucking John" doesn't scream at her like that, poor girl (and a possible indicator of why mum is with John instead of Dad?)

I don't know if there'd be much the police could do to be honest after the fact.

YANBU to be shocked by the outburst but you were right to do nothing and should not be ashamed. Losing his temper and swearing was an OTT reaction but it's not an offence or necessarily a child protection issue. And, sadly, these days it seems quite common for adults to swear and shout... You don't know what led up to it or what situation the man is in. He could be like that all the time or it could have been an out-of-character one-off and he's now ashamed of himself.

I see that kind of thing where I live all the time. Usually the child is young enough to still be in a pushchair. It breaks my heart. The first time I saw it I had to speak up. I got a load of verbal and the threat of a broken nose for my trouble.

cbear6 that's exactly what I thought.
I've seen children being shouted and sworn at in the street before but never anything like this. Im not an emotional person but I had to hold back tears.

cogito.. don't agree that it's not an offence, i would have this down as a form of child abuse, do agree however that there is little the op could do about it.