2 Daycare Workers Arrested For ‘Exceptionally Shocking’ Abuse Of Babies — Caught On Video!
[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Two daycare workers in Blaine, Minnesota are facing child abuse charges after alleged video footage of them hurting toddlers and infants came to light.
Chloe Kaye Johnson (above, left), 24, and Elizabeth Augusta Wiemerslage (above, right), 22, both worked at Small World Daycare Center in the city of Blaine, a far northern suburb of Minneapolis. There, police say, they punished and physically struck young children while on the job. And their abuse went unchecked until the observations of one worried parent.
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According to FOX 9 News, cops began investigating the pair of young women last Tuesday. On that day, a parent noticed bruises on their infant’s body after picking up the child from the daycare center. When the parent asked about the bruising, officials at the business said the markings “might” be from a chair or a swing, per a Blaine PD arrest affidavit. The parent pursued the issue and reported it to the cops, who questioned both Johnson and Wiemerslage. Per the affidavit, Johnson acknowledged seeing “redness” and bruising on the infant, while Wiemerslage denied seeing anything amiss.
But camera footage told an entirely different story. Police officers pulled surveillance clips from the daycare and found horrific evidence of abuse right on tape. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, citing a probable cause affidavit filed last Thursday in Anoka County District Court, video allegedly shows Johnson as she grabs a child “by her upper thighs, hip and groin area and violently flips [the baby] back and forth from her stomach to her back.” The court docs continued:
“[The baby’s] arms are flailing outward, and her body is consistently rigid as her face contacts the floor mat repeatedly as she is being flipped and her head is unsupported.”
WTF…
There was no audio with the video footage, but based on what prosecutors could see, the child “appears to be screaming with her mouth open as this is happening.” Plus, Wiemerslage was facing directly towards Johnson at the time — so both women would have undoubtedly seen (and, in Johnson’s case, been involved in) what was going on.
The abuse didn’t stop there, though. Johnson was allegedly later seen holding a cloth against a baby’s nose and mouth as it cried. She then pulled the baby up by its neck and arm, and shoved a bottle into its mouth. Cops also say they saw Wiemerslage “violently” slam a baby into a support pillow before “aggressively” bringing the child over to a changing table — as Johnson could be seen looking on.
When cops confronted Wiemerslage and Johnson with the video during interrogation, the former allegedly acknowledged the behavior was “wrong,” according to FOX 9 News, while the latter admitted her actions might have been “too rough” for such young children.
Yeah, no s**t…
The two women were arrested and booked into jail late last week, though they were released on Friday after they each posted a $10,000 bond. They have both been charged with felony malicious punishment of a child under four, third-degree assault against a victim under four, and two counts of gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child. Wiemerslage is due back in court on those charges on August 12; Johnson’s next court appearance will come on September 19. As for the Small World Daycare Center, they immediately fired both women and are said to be cooperating with the investigation.
In a statement released to the media, the Blaine PD did not mince words:
“Although we have been forced to investigate other terrible acts of child abuse, this one is exceptionally shocking. Most parents drop their children off at day care centers believing that their child will be safe, especially since there is usually more than one care provider watching their child at any one given time. In this case, we found two workers working together with infants, both aggressively abusing children.”
And somehow, the story still gets even worse than THAT!!!
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People spoke to a man named Cody Pech, whose 5-month old son was taken to the Small World Daycare Center weeks ago. At one point, that infant came home with bruises. When Cody took him to a pediatrician, he was told the child had “suffered a fracture on his tibia.”
WHAT?!
Pech told the mag that the two “sick and bizarre” workers “seemed to feed off each other,” and added:
“We have felt a wide range of emotions about this, from sadness to anger. … This was a complete betrayal from that daycare center.”
What a terrible, terrible ordeal. We’re just glad these women have finally been removed from the care of children — and hopefully will never be anywhere near that kind of job again.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Anoka County Sheriff’s Office]
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