'Our Jaws Dropped': Essex Daycare Teacher Caught On Camera Yanking Child To The Ground
ESSEX, Md. (WJZ) -- A teacher at a Baltimore county daycare was caught on camera aggressively grabbing a child, and the parents said they were never notified about it.
The shocking moments were caught on camera.
"It's heartbreaking to watch," said Joshua Giddings, Gabriella's father.
Giddings said two weeks ago, his daughter Gabriella woke up from naptime at Saldino's Kiddie Cottage Child Care in Essex.
He says she was getting her energy out rolling around on the carpet when suddenly her teacher grabbed her.
"Gabby, being a normal five-year-old, is kind of just doing her own thing the teacher goes down, grabs her by her leg and yanks her to the ground," Giddings said. "[She] did scrape her knee, it was all bruised up and then proceeded to grab her by the arms and then scream in her face."
Giddings said he had no idea anything happened until four days later - when another teacher in the room finally spoke up and told daycare officials.
Giddings said he then got a phone call from the teacher. She told him she was fired for a misunderstanding.
"The teacher that grabbed her felt bad saying 'I got fired it was taken out of context and Gabby was laughing the whole time.' So we didn't think anything of it or it was that bad" said Giddings.
Confused - Giddings says he called police and went to the care center to watch the video.
"Our jaws just hit the floor," Giddings said. "We saw our daughter being abused and manhandled and that's just not okay."
In a statement to WJZ - the center said "when the incident was brought to our attention, we immediately followed all protocols. We notified the office of Childcare as well as Child Protective Services and the employee was dismissed immediately"
Giddings said what happened is unacceptable.
"I'm supposed to take care of her and in school, the teacher is supposed to take care of her," Giddings said. "In a place that I can't be there for her, her providers need to be there for her and that didn't happen."
Giddings said his daughter is okay, but she did suffer some bruising and a few scrapes on her knees.
An investigation is ongoing with Baltimore County Crimes Against Children.