South Fulton day care worker accused of hitting, injuring toddler on video
Day care worker harms toddler on camera, police say
A family wants to press charges against a South Fulton day care worker they say made their toddler bleed on camera. They sat down with FOX 5 Atlanta to explain the incident.
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. - A South Fulton day care worker has been arrested after being accused of injuring a two-year-old under her care.
What we know:
There is security video of the incident.
It appears to show the boy running into a cubicle.
The day care worker follows him, holding what appears to be a wooden block.
She appears to swing in the little boy’s direction.
What police say
What they're saying:
Police say the incident happened on Tuesday at Leapfrog Early Learning Academy in South Fulton.
A police spokesperson says the worker threw the wooden block at the child.
What the parents say
The other side:
"My heart broke, my world came crashing down, that’s my son," said Jared Graves, the father of the little boy in the video, two-year-old Jared Jr.
Graves says the block struck his son, opening a cut.
"A gash right here, by his eye, and he also has swollen blood vessels in the corner of his eye," Graves said. "He was bleeding."
Graves says the day care did not tell him nor his wife about the incident.
"I never got a phone call, mom never got a phone call, about anything that happened," Graves said.
Graves' wife picked up their son Tuesday afternoon. He says the worker told his wife Jared Jr. hurt himself falling.
"My wife was told that he fell on a mop bucket," Graves said.
That explanation did not sit well with the couple, so they went to the day care and asked to watch the video.
"An unsettling feeling," Graves said.
South Fulton day care worker arrested for child cruelty
Dig deeper:
Graves says the day care told him the worker was fired, but he's not satisfied.
On Wednesday, South Fulton police arrested Nkiya McLester.
"We want to press charges to the fullest extent of the law, and we also want to sue the school as well," Graves said.
FOX 5 Atlanta called Leapfrog and is waiting for a response.
Meanwhile, McLester was booked at the Fulton County Jail and charged with second-degree cruelty to children and battery.
Nkiya McLester (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office)
Last year, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning says found on one occasion a child suffered diaper rash after the child was placed in an improper diaper.
The agency also found an instance in which two children were left unsupervised.
A spokesperson for the agency says Leapfrog currently appears to be in good standing.
The Source: FOX 5 Atlanta reporter Christopher King interviewed Jared Jr.'s parents for this report. South Fulton police confirmed the charges against Nkiya McLester.