A Florida day care worker has been arrested after surveillance video showed her repeatedly mistreating and tossing children and toddlers around who she had been left alone with, police said this week.
Katherine Weitz, 65, has been charged with three counts of child abuse, but police say more charges could be coming thanks to surveillance video that documented more than 30 instances of child abuse.
"There was shaking (and) a couple of kids being smacked during nap time," Keith Walker of the Ormond Beach Police Department told WFTV. "Some of the kids, she palmed the back of their heads with her hands and pushed them face forward in their cots."
The office manager at the Dream City Academy day care where Weitz worked discovered the mistreatment after hearing children crying in the classroom. The manager reportedly turned on a live stream where she witnessed the alleged abuse.
"She would take them by their wrists and their ankles and flip them over facing in the opposite direction so they wouldn't be facing another child,” Walker said.
Police were called and Weitz was fired by the academy that same day.
Weitz told police that she had felt sick and should not have gone to work that day. When police showed her the video of her allegedly roughing up the children, she said it showed her "over-reacting," and "being too rough."
Fortunately, police say none of the children suffered any permanent injuries as a result of the alleged abuse.
Weitz began working at the Dream City Academy day care in January after passing a criminal background check, according to the report.
Weitz is currently being held on a $300,000 bond. If she comes up with the money to post bond, she will not be allowed to have any contact with children.
Photo: Ormond Beach Police Department