A Berlin daycare worker is facing assault and child abuse charges after an eight-month-old baby was brought to the hospital with a broken leg.
While the investigation is ongoing and more charges are likely, on Feb. 20 Berlin resident Heather Lynn Ward, 39, was charged with 14 counts of second-degree assault and one felony count of second-degree child abuse. The charges stem from Ward’s time in an infant classroom at Berlin Activities Depot/Education Station.
According to charging documents, police launched an investigation in November regarding an eight-month-old female who’d been diagnosed with a broken tibia at Atlantic General Hospital. The child’s mother told investigators she’d been fine prior to attending daycare at Berlin Activities Depot/Education Station Nov. 1. Investigators visited the childcare facility and met with its director as well as the child’s teachers in the “Baby Buzzing Bees” classroom, which according to the Berlin Activities Depot website is for children between 21 and 40 weeks old. Staff told investigators they were unaware of an incident when the child was injured, according to court documents.
It was at that point, however, that investigators requested video surveillance for any classroom the child had been in on Nov. 1. The video showed several interactions noted in court documents, including several instances when Ward hit the child. According to charging documents, at 9:47 a.m., “Ward hit (the child) with her left hand twice and then used her right hand and struck (the child) five times….”
The employee did the same thing at her previous job.
Wow – this is bad n so many ways. I’m glad my kids are grown.
I smell a rat. “Slapping” does not break a tibia. Is anyone investigating the parents? And BTW, what kind of parent leaves their eight-month-old baby in a daycare center? Eight months old? Seriously?
I wonder how she treats her own children 🙁
Pure evil.