In addition to criminal charges, the mother has hired a lawyer since she plans to sue the church for the abuse her son had to endure.
Trigger Warning: This story mentions details of child abuse that may be disturbing to readers.
When Krystin Collier's three-year-old son was picked up from daycare by his grandmother, she noticed that he was "visibly upset." When he got home, he was not acting himself and had cuts and bruises on his body, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
When the mother confronted the Clarkston First Baptist Academy Daycare in Clarkston, Georgia, on July 6, 2022, she was told that there was a bit of "tension" between her son and two of the daycare staff. But, when the mom requested to watch the video for herself, she was shocked to see that daycare staff Bernetta Glover and Autumn Coney were allegedly assaulting her son by slamming him to a floor mat, pulling him up by his hair and slapping and punching him repeatedly, per PEOPLE.
Watching the video was one of the hardest things Collier had to do, she said, adding that it made her sick to her stomach.
Georgia daycare employees charged with child abuse of 3-year-old caught on video https://t.co/ga4wnvksEI pic.twitter.com/msqHRe7k4w
— New York Post (@nypost) August 1, 2022
"I am still angry. As a mother, a working mother, you put your kids in daycare, so you can continue to provide and continue to do what it is for them. It was two-and-a-half hours of abuse done to my child. Two-and-a-half hours from two teachers. To run this tape back and see that, I can't trust you with my child, and this is a church," Collier said with tears in her eyes.
Now, the mom believes that the administrators and the church first lady were involved in covering this issue up and brushing it off as something simple.
Both the women have been charged with first-degree cruelty to children, jail records show. Coney turned herself in that same day but bonded out of jail almost immediately, according to jail records. Glover, meanwhile, is yet to turn herself in.
Two workers at a church daycare in Georgia have been charged in a child abuse case for allegedly slamming around a 3-year-old boy in a caught-on-video incident.The Clarkston Police Department issued arrest warrants Friday for Bernetta Glover and Autumn Coney
— Valentina (@Valenti11605792) August 1, 2022
"I want to see the teachers serve time, I want everybody to serve time, everybody that kept this secret, everybody that tried to sweep this under the rug, they all need to see time," Collier said.
In addition to criminal charges, the mother has hired a lawyer since she plans to sue the church for the abuse her son had to endure.
"It is my job to make sure that Clarkston First Baptist Church pay money, and pay a lot of money, civilly. They tried to offer my client and other mother's a refund of money for the daycare. We don't want past money, we want future money," Collier family lawyer Jackie Patterson said emphatically.
References:
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/clarkston-daycare-abuse-case-mother-hires-lawyer
Cover Image Source: YouTube | CBS46 Atlanta
