A daycare in Wilmington, along with two of its employees, is under fire in a lawsuit over allegations of child abuse. According to the civil suit, the two employees named in the suit are accused of “hitting children with a belt.” The daycare at the center of the suit is Carr’s Peachtree location. 

Sad child; image courtesy of Alexas_Fotos via Pixabay, www.pixabay.com

According to the suit, one of the young victims was seven years old at the time of the incident. To make matters worse, the child’s mother “was never notified of any incidents involving the disciplining of children specifically this victim at the Carr location.” The suit states:“The van from Carr’s Peachtree location picked up minor child, her older brother, and other children from Snipes as usual.”The suit further claims the victim “victim and her best friend, another first-grade girl, adjusted their seat belts and the van driver/or another employee of the Carr’s Peachtree location reprimanded them for allegedly standing or trying to stand up in the van while en route.” Then when the van arrived at the daycare, the two daycare workers “told the young victim and the other girl to sit on a bench quietly.”The suit continues to state, “Minor Child and the other first-grade girl sat outside Defendant Pamela Carr’s office in fear; they knew from experience that they were waiting to be punished.”The two children were taken inside the daycare director’s office. The suit says, “In her hand, Defendant Carr held a leather belt given to her by her brother-in-law, who worked in various capacities at the facility and drove the school transport van from time to time. ‘Mr. Bryan,’ as he was known, had taken off the belt for Defendant Carr to use to discipline the children.”Both of the children were allegedly yelled at and told to hold out their hands. From there, each girl was hit across their hands with the belt. The lawsuit continues:“The girls began to cry and wail. However, Defendants Pamela Carr and Geraldine Sidbury were not dissuaded from the discipline. Upon information and belief, Defendant Geraldine Sidbury then took hold of the belt and repeatedly whipped Minor Child and the other first-grade girl with it, with blows connecting at numerous places on the girls’ bodies. According to a police department description of video of the beating, Defendant Geraldine Sidbury repeatedly raised the belt above her head before bringing it down on the girls.”After the incident, the girls were “told to dry their eyes, wipe their faces and gather themselves before joining the other children to play outside.” The suit also notes that one of the children was too afraid to “tell her older brother about the beating who was also on the van.” The same girl also withheld the incident from her mother. In fact, it wasn’t “until the minor victim mentioned the incident to a social worker at Snipes Elementary that an investigation was launched.”During that investigation, police found evidence of the belt beatings on film. Immediately after that discovery, Sidbury resigned from the facility.As a result of the incident, the plaintiffs and their families are seeking more than $25,000 in monetary damages to help cover “medical, counseling expense, lost wages, increased child care costs, and significant pain and severe emotional pain and suffering.”

Sources:

Family sues Wilmington daycare, two employees accused of child abuseTwo daycare workers accused of child abuse plead no contest; lawsuit filed against daycare