Day care worker caught on video abusing children

A day care worker in Arkansas was arrested after she was caught on camera aggressively handling two young children, police said.

McKenzie Howell, 19, of Mabelvale, was arrested Monday on two felony counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor after a caller told police her 21-month-old son was abused on June 29 at Kid’s Academy in Bryant, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

Howell, a class instructor at the facility, was arrested after investigators spoke with witnesses and reviewed footage from security cameras at the location. A woman who also works at the day care said she reviewed portions of video surveillance that showed her son being abused before she contacted the Child Abuse Hotline, which referred her to police.

The woman told police that Howell grabbed her son “aggressively off the ground” before trying to put him in a chair near a wall. But Howell dropped the boy, causing his head to apparently hit a wall before falling to the floor, according to a police report.

Howell later picked the boy up again and put him in a chair. No bruises or other marks were found on his body, police said.

Another colleague at the facility said she also saw Howell push another girl into a wall and forcefully pull the child’s arm.

The second colleague who witnessed Howell’s alleged abuse then told the facility’s manager of the incidents. Howell, who had been previously warned not to be “verbally aggressive” with the children, was then sent home and told not to return until further notice, police said.

Video obtained by KATV shows an employee at the day care facility sitting on a classroom floor in front of six young children when a worker identified by police as Howell is seen dragging a girl on the floor by the legs in front of her.

“This next part, I’m not going to lie, is hard to watch,” Bryant Police Department Sgt. Todd Crowson told the station. “You know, she just looked angry in the video. I’m not real sure why.”

Howell is also seen in other footage picking up a girl by the shoulders and throwing her into a chair. In another instance, Howell grabbed a girl by her shoulders and pushed her back against a wall while she sat on the floor, causing the toddler to immediately grab her shoulder and cry, the video shows.

“Kids can be tough to deal with at times, but you just got to have the right temperament for that job and some people, that type of job is not for them,” Crowson said. “If you’re a worker who works around kids and you feel like you’re having a bad day, maybe you should take a day off.”

At least one child has been removed from the facility since Howell’s arrest, KATV reports. She has since been released from custody at a jail in Saline County after posting $5,000 bond, jail records show.

Howell’s arrest is the latest complaint in connection with the day care facility. In January, state officials launched an investigation regarding its staff-to-child ratio, the Democrat-Gazette reported. An internal report in January showed that day care officials fired an employee for not being able to account for all of the children in her care after two children reportedly ran out when a parent opened a door, according to the newspaper.

via:  https://nypost.com/2018/07/10/day-care-worker-caught-on-video-abusing-children/