A Florida day care worker has been charged with child abuse after she was caught on CCTV footage dropping a 1-year-old boy and breaking his leg, and repeatedly hitting a 4-month-old baby.
The incident happened at the Time of Wonder Academy in Tampa on Sept. 8. Yamirka Menendez, 51, has been accused of grabbing a one-year-old boy by his wrists, swinging him into the air, then dropping him on the floor and fracturing the toddler's leg. A few hours later, Menendez was seen on surveillance footage forcibly grabbing another child, a 4-month-old baby, and repeatedly slapping the baby several times, New York Post reported.
CCTV footage shows Menendez striking the injured boy in the head a few hours later, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The 1-year-old victim's mother reportedly noticed that her son had pain in his left foot the following day as he could not stand or place any weight on his left foot. She then took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was diagnosed with fractures to his tibia and fibula.
Later, the toddler was re-examined by the University of South Florida Child Protection Team and it was determined that he was a victim of physical abuse, WHDH reported.
Police officers reportedly reviewed the CCTV surveillance video from the day care and arrested Menendez on child abuse charges.
Menendez’s co-worker, 52-year-old Milagros Rodriguez, who was in the room when Menendez assaulted the infant, is facing a charge of failure to report child abuse.
In a similar but unrelated incident, a Colorado woman named Carla Faith who operated an illegal daycare facility that hid children in her basement behind a false wall has been found guilty on Aug. 27 of the child abuse of 26 toddlers found in her care, Latin Times reported.
The fake wall in her basement reportedly kept 26 children locked, all under 2 years old. The children were found sweaty and thirsty and some were even in unchanged diapers. Faith and her co-workers were immediately arrested for their inhumane practice.
Faith reportedly did not have the license to open and operate a daycare facility and did not have enough workers to take care of that many children.
“They deserve justice, and I think that this gives them a sense of justice,” District Attorney Michael Allen said after the verdict.
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