John Jefferson
A day care worker at Zionsville Presbyterian Church is accused of breaking a 2-year-old boy’s leg (WTHR).
An Indiana church day care worker is accused of breaking a 2-year-old boy’s leg when his ankle rolled as she was “playing” with him by “lifting him in the air” and putting him down, and she later allegedly told police the boy is “not really a nice kid,” is a “crybaby,” and has “anger problems.”
Areeana Adeniyi, 26, faces battery and neglect of dependent charges after the alleged incident. She has a warrant out for her arrest, online court records show.
The alleged incident happened on July 23 at the Zionsville Presbyterian Church, about 18 miles north of Indianapolis. The case came to light the following day when the boy’s father learned that his son had broken his tibia, saw a video of the incident that contradicted what the day care’s incident report said about how it happened, and called the police, according to an affidavit of probable cause, reported by local NBC affiliate WTHR.
“It was not just a simple pick up and put down like it was described and signed off on the incident report. His tibia snapped visually on the footage,” said the boy’s father, who reported the case to police after seeing the video, the station reported.
The case came to light after the child’s father got a call from the day care, saying his son, identified in court documents as “MV1,” was “in pain due to possibly twisting his ankle,” the affidavit said.
The day care provided a “Child’s Special Report,” which stated: “I was playing with (MV1) lifting him in the air, and when I put him back down his ankle rolled,” the document said.
The boy was given an ice pack, the report said.
The father took his son to the hospital, where the boy couldn’t put any weight on his leg, the document said. X-rays showed he had a fractured tibia, according to the probable cause statement.
Court documents also reveal what Adeniyi allegedly texted to her supervisor about the alleged incident.
“Hi, it’s an emergency I think I just broke (MV1) foot playing with him to hard,” one message from her reads, according to the affidavit, reviewed by Law&Crime. “I was picking them up in the air and I flipping him kinda and he hit his foot on the ground and its swelling.”
The following day, in a phone call with police, she said she could not meet in person to discuss the incident after having been asked to leave the premises because the administration was concerned for her safety due to the father being upset, the probable cause statement said.
She told the officer that she plays “roughly” by picking children up to make them smile, the document said.
She allegedly said she put the boy on the ground because he was irritated that she was touching him. She said the boy was “squirming while in the air,” and she did not want him to fall, according to the affidavit.
She also described the boy as “not really a nice kid,” a “crybaby,” and has “anger problems,” the document said.
“To try and defend actions and try to take stabs at a 2-year-old really shows character flaws,” the boy’s father said.
When the officer told Adeniyi that the boy had a fractured tibia, she said she did not abuse him, the document said. She said she was upset that the boy’s father was upset and said, “accidents happen,” the affidavit said.
The church said in a statement that Adeniyi is no longer employed there, local Fox affiliate WXIN reported.
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