Clarkston, GA — The Clarkston Police Department says it has issued arrest warrants for two daycare workers after reviewing a video of a daycare worker punching and shoving a child.

The investigation began on Wednesday, July 13 at 11:45 p.m. Police responded to the Clarkston First Baptist Church Daycare – listed as Clarkston First Baptist Academy online –  after someone reported an incident of child abuse.

Neither daycare worker had been arrested as of Aug. 1, according to DeKalb County Jail records. Both are accused of first-degree cruelty to children.

A mother told officers that her son was abused by daycare workers at the center. She said her son’s grandmother picked up the child on July 6 and the child was “visibly upset.” The grandmother asked to speak with the teacher, who approached with arms at her side and a fist balled up. The grandmother thought the teacher was going to fight with her. The grandmother asked for video footage of the day’s events.

The mother later discovered bruises on her son’s arm that weren’t there when she dropped him off at the daycare. The mother spoke with the “first lady of the church” and she was informed that church staff looked at the video, but “didn’t see anything happen that was unacceptable.”

The child’s mother and grandmother looked at the video and saw there was more than one teacher involved in the incident. They saw the child being repeatedly pushed down on the classroom mat and then being pulled off the ground by his hair before being thrown in a corner. The child was also slapped and punched with a fist during the incident.

The officer saw the video and observed the child “being thrown down several times, pulled off the ground by his hair, and punched and slapped multiple times.”

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