John Jefferson
Jasmine Collum booked on Oct. 23, one week after she allegedly injured a baby in her care (Bell County Jail).
Texas cops responding after receiving a call about a 3-month-old baby boy “showing unusual lethargy” allegedly discovered that a day care teacher was to blame and that she was caught on video treating him like a “rag doll.”
Jasmine Collum, a 24-year-old employee of Ignite Learning Academy in Temple, was booked into jail on Tuesday evening on a felony charge stemming from her alleged behavior at work one week prior.
According to the Temple Police Department, their investigation, also involving Child Protective Services, began late at night on Oct. 16, hours after the victim was “showing unusual lethargy” at the day care and was taken to Baylor Scott and White McLane Children’s Specialty Clinic.
“Upon arrival, officers learned the child had been taken to Ignite Learning Academy in Temple, TX for daycare around 8:00 a.m. that morning,” police said. “At around 4:00 p.m., the child began showing unusual lethargy. EMS was contacted, and it was decided to transport the child for medical care.”
Though police did not initially say how they identified Collum as a suspect, the reported details of the complaint in the third-degree felony case are shocking.
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Local NBC affiliate KCEN reported that surveillance video footage from inside of the day care revealed Collum was “swinging and bouncing” the victim “aggressively” — such that the baby was “flop[ping] around as though they were a rag doll” — and continued the abuse while the victim was in a bouncer, ultimately causing a brain injury.
Court documents detailed that Collum forcefully rocked the bouncer back and forth, shook it with her feet until the victim fell over, pulled him up “by his head,” and then kept going, CBS affiliate KWTX reported, identifying the baby as a male.
At one point, the report said, Collum allegedly “roughly” hit the baby in the back before putting him in the bouncer again, bounced the victim with her foot until he appeared “limp and unresponsive,” and then reported his condition to her employer.
After that, EMS stepped in.
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Under Texas law, third-degree felony injury to a child occurs when a person “intentionally or knowingly” commits the offense.
Bell County Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime indicate that Collum remains behind bars as of Friday on a $125,000 bond.
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