Day care teacher accused of slamming child in crib, pinning child to mattress
WAUKESHA, Wis. – A teacher at a day care was charged with child abuse for allegedly injuring a child with special needs.
Heather Miller, who worked as a lead teacher in an infant room at the Lawrence School, was arrested and charged with two felonies Wednesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
In a criminal complaint obtained by WDJT, police officers said that they spoke with the parents of the victim, who was not identified, after the parents reported learning from another teacher at the school that their child had been abused.
According to another teacher who was a witness, Miller was feeding the victim, who has special needs, and was overheard telling the child that he was “physically disgusting” and “how he eats is disgusting,” WDJT reported.
Later that day, the witness said that they saw the child stand up in his crib. According to the criminal complaint, the witness saw Miller move mattresses in front of the child’s crib to block its view from security cameras, WITI reported. The witness said that Miller then picked the boy up and “slammed him face down into the crib” with such force that the boy bounced up and down.
The witness told police that Miller then held the crying child down on the mattress, pushing down for approximately 30 seconds until the child began to wheeze, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. At that point, the witness ran to report the incident to the school’s director.
“This complaint is just awful. It is awful,” Waukesha County Court Commissioner David Herring told WITI. “When I say that it’s awful — it seems to me to indicate that there’s so much awful, don’t know how to explain it.”
Though the teacher reported the behavior to the school, no action was taken in response to the incident, WDJT reported. The witness reported to police that after the incident, the child’s face was red and he seemed to be acting differently.
The child’s mother did take the little boy to a hospital later, where doctors did not find any injuries, WITI reported. However, according to the criminal complaint, doctors said that pushing a child’s head into a mattress could lead to respiratory issues or death.
Waukesha police told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that as part of their investigation, several other staff members at the school could face charges of failing to protect a child. In a statement to WITI, Waukesha Police Capt. Dan Baumann said the school was also found to be operating at over 150% of its capacity, as regulated by the state.
Miller denied the allegations when she spoke to police, and posted a $6,000 bond after appearing in court on Thursday, WDJT reported.
