Two staffers at a Minnesota daycare have been arrested after they were seen on surveillance video inflicting “exceptionally shocking” abuse on three babies in their care.
Chloe Kaye Johnson, 24, and Elizabeth Augusta Wiemerslage, 22, were chaged with malicious punishment of a child under 4, assault against a victim under 4, and two counts of malicious punishment of a child, KMSP reported.
“Although we have been forced to investigate other terrible acts of child abuse, this one is exceptionally shocking.,” Blaine Police said in a statement. “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.”
According to the charges, Blaine police were called to Small World Daycare Center after a 5-month-old girl was found with unexplained bruising on her body. The little girl’s parents said they dropped their daughter off on the morning of July 16 wit no bruising, but when they picked her up that afternoon, the found bruising across the lower half of her body.
When they contacted the daycare center, the charges say, they were told the bruising “might be from the chair or swing in the immobile infant room.”
Court documents said Johnson and Wiemerslage also said the bruising could have come from infant chairs because the child “slumps” in her chair.
But when officers viewed surveillance footage from the infant room, they saw both Johnson and Wiemerslage being rough with the children in their care. In one video, Johnson is seen sitting on the floor with the 5-month-old moving her around “aggressively” before grabbing the lower half of her body and “violently” flipping her back and forth from stomach to back.
The charging document says the baby’s arms were flailing, her body was rigid, and her head was unsupported. The video contained no audio, but the baby could be seen screaming.
The documents also say that Johnson picked up another infant “roughly” and held “a cloth over the [second] infant’s mouth for several seconds while the infant is crying.” She also grabbed that child’s neck firmer and “violently pulls them up by the arm,” repeatedly shoving a bottle in and out of the baby’s mouth.
Wiemerslage is seen with the same infant, “violently” slamming her onto a support pillow. She was also seen “aggressively shoving [a third infant] down onto a changing table.”
The documents say Wiemerslage “aggressively drags” the 5-month-old across a mat ad “slams” her into a support pillow, pressing down on her torso.
The complaint says that Johnson admitted being “too rough” while she was helping the babies roll over. Wiemerslage also admitted her behavior was wrong.
Investigators said the 5-month-old had bruising on nine areas of her body. The other two had further bruising, and one had a leg fracture that was likely about two weeks old.
Blaine Police said the daycare center is cooperating with the investigation, and they asked families to contact them if they saw any unexplained injuries on their children.
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[Featured image: Elizabeth Augusta Wiemerslage and Chloe Kaye Johnson/Anoka County Jail]
