You know, I'm all about respecting thy elders. However, sometimes thy elders need to be brought back to earth. Why don't you try and sit with him and ask him what it is that he would have done differently, aside from begging, since the approach you took wasn't the correct one? Me, personally, I see no other way.

That sucks bad. I’m sorry. Maybe when things calm down a bit, you could point out that you lost your cool when you hit the girl, but you feel like your dad lost his cool when he screamed at you. He isn’t exactly modeling self control.