A Florida daycare teacher was arrested after she became angry during a time-out and allegedly punched a child and threw him to the floor, police said.
Marissa Kiera Rozier, 25, was charged with child abuse resulting in great bodily injury after security video showed her lifting the child 2-3 feet off the ground in a daycare room and forcibly throwing him to the floor, according to the affidavit. Fox 35 Reported.
An investigation into the incident began Tuesday after management at M&M Family Care Center in Cocoa, Florida, reported seeing surveillance camera footage of a teacher abusing the girl inside the classroom.
The girl, Jurni, also began crying more than usual and told her parents her bottom was hurting Monday night, the girl’s parents told police.
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Marlissa Kiera Rozier, 25, was charged with child abuse causing great bodily injury. (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)
Detectives reviewed surveillance footage and saw the child playing with toys and “jumping around happily,” according to the affidavit. The footage shows Rozier saying something, then walking up to the child in an angry manner and punching the child in the head before the child falls to the floor.
Rozier approached the girl again approximately 20 minutes later, grabbed her by the arms and lifted her three to four feet off the ground, then roughly carried her to a corner and threw her to the floor, causing her to slam her head and body against the wall.
“It’s heartbreaking. Every time I see it, it makes me angry and I don’t want to see it,” Journi’s mother, Annie Smith, told Fox 35.
Smith recalled her daughter trying to explain what happened during the incident.
“She told her sister, ‘This is what my teacher hit me with,’ and then she jumped on the floor and fell down again. I told my husband, ‘Listen to what she’s saying,'” Smith told the outlet.
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The management of M&M Family Care Center in Cocoa, Florida reported seeing surveillance footage that showed a teacher abusing a young girl inside a classroom. (iStock)
Another teacher at the daycare center also went to check on the classroom after hearing a thud, but Rozier explained that a child had just fallen and was “fine,” Fox 35 reported. When questioned about the incident, Rozier again claimed the girl had fallen before leaving for lunch and did not return to work that day.
“The daycare did all the right things,” Cocoa Police Department spokesperson Yvonne Martinez told Fox 35. “They took the necessary steps. The employee no longer works there.”
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Detectives say they have identified other victims in the classroom and additional charges are expected to be filed in the case.
Rozier was arrested Wednesday and released the next day on $5,000 bail.
