"I decided to do it my way," he said, according to the Mirror. He warned his father not to beat his mother. Then, "I hit him as many times and as hard as I could," he said.

Police found Harold Johnson unconscious with 10 deep cuts in his head. He was taken to Maywood Hospital but refused to be transferred to General Hospital, so he was released. His last act was to go to the Maywood police station and demand that his son be freed.