Two staffers at a Blaine day care have been charged with felonies in connection with being caught on video last week violently flipping and slamming three babies.
Video captures 2 day-care staffers inflicting ‘exceptionally shocking’ abuse on 3 babies, charges say
The women flipped the infants about and slammed them down, the charges alleged.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 22, 2024 at 3:25PM
Chloe Kaye Johnson, 24, of Andover and Elizabeth Augusta Wiemerslage, 22, of Coon Rapids were each charged Friday in Anoka County District Court with two felonies — malicious punishment of a child and third-degree assault — and two gross-misdemeanor counts of malicious punishment of a child.
The women worked at Small World Learning Center, one of eight under the same ownership in various Twin Cities suburbs, according to the business’ website.
Small World’s owner, Anil Jain, told the Star Tribune in an email Monday that Johnson and Wiemerslage were fired as soon as the allegations were made. In the meantime, Jain added, “we are remaining open to continue supporting our families who rely on us for care and stability during this difficult time.”
He said his company is cooperating with police and working with the state Department of Human Services (DHS), which licenses day cares, “to locate any weaknesses in our policies and procedures to ensure this does not happen again.”
In a statement Sunday, Blaine police Capt. Mark Boerboom called these allegations “exceptionally shocking” when compared to other child abuse cases his department has investigated over the years.
“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,” the captain’s statement read. “In this case, we found two workers working together with infants, both aggressively abusing children.”
Sarah Berg, a DHS spokeswoman, said her agency has a maltreatment investigation underway involving Small World, but she declined to confirm whether it involves this case. In the meantime, Berg said, the day care’s license remains active.
Boerboom said other families who are clients at the Blaine center have been advised to have their children evaluated and to contact police if they detect any unexplainable injuries.
Johnson and Wiemerslage were jailed Thursday and released Friday after posting $10,000 bond. Messages were left for each of them seeking their reaction to the allegations. Johnson’s attorney replied and declined to comment. Wiemerslage is due back in court on Aug. 12. Johnson’s next court date is Sept. 19.
According to the charges:
The parents told police that they picked up their baby on July 15 at the Small World location in the 1300 block of NE. Paul Parkway and noticed fresh bruises on the 5-month-old’s thighs, buttocks and legs. They contacted day-care staff, who suggested injuries may have been caused by the baby’s infant swing.
Johnson, the primary care provider in the infants room, said to police that she saw no bruises on the child when she was dropped off but did see some redness around the pelvis that turned out to bruising and wondered whether it was from the baby using infant chairs in the room. Wiemerslage offered much the same possible explanation to police.
Under further questioning, Johnson said she was helping the babies learn how to roll over, then admitted that she was too rough and might have caused the one infant’s bruising. Wiemerslage also admitted to her abusive actions.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video from inside the day care center and saw Wiemerslage and Johnson abusing three children.
The video captured Johnson as she “grabs [one infant] by her upper thighs, hip and groin area and violently flips [the baby] back and forth from her stomach to her back,” the charges read. “[Her] arms are flailing outward, and her body is consistently rigid as her face contacts the floor mat repeatedly as she is being flipped and her head is unsupported.”
There is no audio on the video as this abuse was occurring, but the baby “appears to be screaming with her mouth open as this is happening” and while Wiemerslage was present and facing Johnson.
Video also showed Johnson picking up another infant and holding a cloth to the baby’s mouth and nose in an aggressive manner and holding it there for several seconds as the child cried. She then gripped the infant by the neck, pulled the baby up by the arm and repeatedly shoved a bottle in the child’s mouth.
Later in the video, Wiemerslage picked up an infant and slammed the baby onto a support pillow. Wiemerslage then picked up another infant and forcefully shoved the baby onto a changing table.
Medical reports indicated that one infant had bruises in nine locations that are consistent with excessive gripping or squeezing. One of the other babies had a leg fracture that may have occurred a couple of weeks ago, according to police.
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