Day care worker rips hair from toddler — leading cops to more abuse, Ohio report says

After a day care worker was accused of ripping hair from a 1-year-old girl’s scalp this month, Ohio state officials have suspended the license of the center where she worked.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services began investigating after a parent reported their child had a bald spot, according to a report obtained by McClatchy News.

Surveillance video from Small Kids Adventures Learning Center in Cincinnati recorded 27-year-old Kristian Hemmitt as she dragged the toddler and continued to “jerk the child back and forth” on March 3, McClatchy News previously reported. The Hamilton County prosecutor said Hemmitt then tried hiding the girl’s bald spots and threw out her hair.

She was arrested and later charged with one count of felonious assault, two counts of child endangering and one court of tampering with evidence.

The day care center did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

On March 24, police contacted the state department “regarding additional concerns of abuse” captured by the center’s surveillance camera, according to the report.

In one Feb. 10 video, officials say the day care staff member is seen using a toy to hit a child, which then causes the child to fall back. State officials say the employee also was recorded smacking a child, grabbing children by their necks before throwing them down to the floor, slamming a kid’s hand in a door, hitting a child with a dust pan, throwing a child into a toy bin, slamming a child into the floor, pushing a child’s head down and forcing a child to sit in a feeding table for over 1 1/2 hours.

Another employee of the same classroom was also recorded grabbing a kid by one arm and dropping the child on the floor, the report says, adding that the Public Children Services Agency of Ohio may investigate this incident as abuse. This worker was the owner of Small Kids Adventures Learning Center before their license was revoked in 2018, officials say, and the employee is banned from ownership until August 2023.

Police say they have detectives reviewing video footage obtained by law enforcement “around the clock in order to document evidence of abuse, neglect, endangerment, and any other criminal offenses,” according to the report. Authorities have videos from Feb. 10 to March 10, and “based on one day of footage it appears that numerous children were harmed and multiple staff members were observed harming children.”

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services issued an order suspending the child care center from operating effective at 6 p.m. March 29.

This suspension order comes after a January 2020 complaint intake by the state department, which found that Small Kids Adventures Learning Center teachers left children unattended and did not properly care for the kids. A state employee also reported the space was not properly cleaned and sanitized, children were not safe or given required meals, and a teacher cursed in front of and at children.

The center was ordered to provide corrective action plans regarding various incidents by March 27, 2020.

This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Day care worker rips hair from toddler — leading cops to more abuse, Ohio report says."