Husband's arrest halts 'Wife Swap' production

[realityluver]

Thursday, 03/24/05
Husband's arrest halts 'Wife Swap' production
By IAN DEMSKY
Staff Writer

Restaurateur charged after daughter injured

Production was halted on an episode of ABC's reality TV show Wife Swap being filmed in Nashville after one of the participants was arrested and charged with punching his 13-year-old daughter in the face Tuesday evening, network and police officials said yesterday.

Yanni Panagiotakis, 38, who owns the Athens Family Restaurant on Franklin Road with his wife, Dina, was charged with domestic assault late Tuesday and freed yesterday morning on $1,000 bail, Metro police said.

Reached at their restaurant yesterday afternoon, Dina Panagiotakis said neither she nor her husband would comment, citing the advice of their attorney.

''Please leave us alone so we can get our lives back together,'' she said.

Wife Swap, a popular reality television series, features two families who trade matriarchs for 10 days. According to an ABC Web site, the show allows families to experience how other families run their lives.

Yanni Panagiotakis on Tuesday had driven his daughter to a friend's house on Haydenberry Cove while a four-person film crew from the show traveled in another vehicle in front of them, police said.

In an arrest affidavit, police initially said that the film crew had witnessed the father striking the girl. But police revised that account yesterday, saying the employees arrived shortly after the alleged attack and noticed the girl had obvious injuries to her nose and cheek.

She told the crew members that her father had struck her several times in the face with his fist for not wearing a coat, police said.

The Wife Swap crew took the child to a nearby doctor's office for treatment and then to Saint Thomas Hospital for X-rays. The father did not accompany them.

The girl was examined and released Tuesday evening from Saint Thomas. Afterward, the film crew took her and her 9-year-old brother to a local hotel, accompanied by a representative from the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.

''First and foremost, the well-being of all of the participants in Wife Swap is a top priority,'' ABC officials said in a statement released yesterday. ''At the first realization that the daughter of the Nashville-based family participating in the episode that has been shooting over the past week needed medical attention, the producers immediately sought treatment for her.''

Dina Panagiotakis, who was being filmed with a family in California, flew back to Nashville, and production in both locations was halted permanently.

http://www.tennessean.com/local/arch...nt_ID=67333318

[JunkieGirl]

Wow. Just wow. What an a$$. What father would haul off and hit his child like that? Did he think he was on the Contender by mistake? Poor kids. I wonder if he hits his wife as well. Jerk needs to get some kind of counselling or sit in jail for a long time.

[Critical]

If he'd do that while being followed by a camera crew, what would he or has he done with no cameras around? This can't have been the first time this sort of thing has happened with this guy. I hope DCS acts in the best interest of the kids and gets them both out of there and gets the father help.

[laura302]

$1,000.00 bail that is way to low. Glad the crew was there imagine what he would have done if they had not been following them. OOPS, typing this and saw Critical said the same thing. Too sad.

[Unklescott]

Here's the first newspaper report and a picture of the dirtbag. I'll get any updates from my relatives in Nashville.



Police: Father struck girl, 13, film crew says

A reality TV show film crew intervened when a Nashville father they were following struck his 13-year-old daughter in the face repeatedly, a Metro police report says.

According to police, the girl told a crew from the show Wife Swap that Yanni Panagiotakis, 38, struck her about five times in the face with his fist.

She suffered a ''busted'' and bruised nose and a bruised and swollen right check, the police affidavit said.

Crew members then took the injured 13-year-old to Saint Thomas Hospital.

Panagiotakis and his wife own the Athens Family Restaurant on Franklin Road.

— Ian Demsky
http://tennessean.com/local/archives...nt_ID=67295059

[Maveno]

Rotten bastard.

It's very nice & refreshing to hear about the crew stepping in and handling the situation. They could have very easily just filmed on and hoped that this particular episode was a 'hit'. No pun intended either.

[roseskid]

Struck her five times in the face with his fist?!? Good Lord, he could have killed her. She must be terrified of him. I agree with Laura302...$1,000 bail is way too low for this scumbag.

[Critical]

FIVE TIMES in the face!? Forget what I said earlier about getting him help. He deserves as harsh a punishment as they can possibly give him.

That poor girl. It's bad enough that her father did this to her, but now, because they were involved in this show when it occurred, everyone will know what happened to her. Can you imagine how hard it will be for her to go back to school - all of those kids looking at her and talking about her?

[applesauce]

I hope they check back through her medical/doctor records carefully...I'm sure they will find unusual injuries in her past. This can't be the first times he's hurt her.

How can someone hurt a child like this?

[joeguy]

why can I hear him saying "what is problem? in old country we do this all the time, it builds charector and corrects the child" well welcome to america buddy, you just can't do that anymore. not like 20 years ago