Video Shows Daycare Aide Throwing Shoe That Struck 5-Year-Old With Special Needs — Three Staff Fired

A Los Angeles daycare worker was dismissed after surveillance video captured her throwing a shoe that struck a 5-year-old girl with special needs at Destiny Development Center in Inglewood.

What Happened

The footage, reported by local outlets including KTLA, KNBC and Fox 11, shows an aide hurling a shoe across a classroom; the shoe hits the child. Two other staff members were in the room at the time and one appears to laugh in the video. The incident occurred on Jan. 16.

Following the video's release, the daycare terminated the employment of the three workers seen in the footage, according to KTLA and Fox 11.

In the recording, the aide who threw the shoe is heard saying, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do it," after realizing the shoe struck the child. Danielle Williams, the center's director, told NBC that the aide said she intended to scare the child rather than hit her; Williams also said the parent was correct to question why shoes would be thrown at school and confirmed the aide is no longer employed there.

Family Response And Investigation

The child's family has called for criminal charges against the three daycare workers. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has opened an investigation into the incident, Fox 11 reported.

"People send their children to daycares and to schools, thinking that our children are safe, that they'll be protected, that they'll be treated with kindness," the child's aunt, Kira Townsend, told Fox. "In this video, that did not display that at all."

The daycare's dismissal of the staff and the sheriff's department probe follow public outcry after the video circulated. Authorities will determine whether criminal charges are warranted as the investigation continues.