Two employees at a church day care in Georgia, have been charged with child abuse, after video footage shows them slamming around a 3-year old boy.
The Clarkston Police Department issued arrest warrants Friday for Bernetta Glover and Autumn Coney on charges of cruelty to children in the first degree stemming from a July 6 incident at Clarkston First Baptist Academy.
The women were seen in the video slamming the child to the floor, pulling him up by his hair, throwing him into a corner, and then proceeded to slap/punch him multiple times.
The boy’s mother, Krystin Collier, said in interviews with local news stations that her son had new bruises and was visibly upset when his grandmother picked him up from the day care on July 6.
“This day, he was very, very emotional, standoffish. He was missing a shoe; he was very disheveled,” Collier said.
The concerned mom immediately sensed something went wrong at the church day care and requested to see video footage from a camera inside the facility that day.
The day care turned over the video on July 13, and what Collier saw left her feeling sick.
“One of the teachers picks up my son from one side of her body and slams him to the other side of her body, I guess to make him sit down,” Collier said.
“The staff punched my child in the face, grab him by his ponytail, and led him around like it’s a leash. I watched her grab him by his top ponytail, slam him against the wall, punch him in the face,” Collier continued to say about her son’s horrific treatment by the teachers.
After witnessing the scene, Collier immediately pulled her child out of the day care program and called police.
Collier said, “I’m mad at myself. I thought I could trust them because they were a church. I’m very disgusted, very disappointed, because this is a church day care. I trusted these people with my child.”
Meanwhile, Collier’s attorney is very confident that they will win their case.
“From what I saw on this tape, there is no question that the church is liable for the injuries, the emotional abuse,” said her attorney, Jackie Patterson.
After watching the video footage it seems Collier’s son is not the only victim at the church day care. Other children can be seen being harshly yelled at, criticized, and physically abused as well.
That’s terrible how can a church hire someone who hates children. Whoever is in charge is very guilty for not watching out for them and making sure they are cared for.
The churches staff full of hypocrites!! What a damn shame!!
No the church is like the world. Full of people who sin….
“And Jesus Wept.”
Unfortunately this is not the only church daycare that mistreats children. Our grandson was mistreated at another mega church .