A Texas daycare teacher was arrested after surveillance cameras revealed she was constantly hitting children, several US media report.
Catherine Guziejka, 44, is accused of physically assaulting six 2-year-old children more than a hundred times in three months at the Punkin’ Doodles daycare in Lindale, more than 300 km north of Houston.
The violent actions committed by the educator were first spotted in October when an employee watching surveillance videos from the daycare saw images of the 44-year-old woman kicking the lower back of a 2 year old boy.
Shaken by what he had just seen, the worker warned the child’s father, who immediately contacted the authorities.
Investigators then got their hands on surveillance footage from the daycare which allowed them to discover that it was not an isolated incident. In fact, they saw the educator increase the number of violent actions towards the children.
In addition to kicking the toddlers, she was filmed on several occasions stamping on their feet, roughly dragging them out of bed when they were napping and dragging them by the arms to the changing table.
On numerous occasions, the sitter also allegedly forced the children to stare at the wall while she aggressively held their heads while changing their diapers.
An employee of Punkin’ Doodles Day Care since September 2023, Catherine Guziejka allegedly hit children 134 times between the months of July and October 2024, according to the police.
She faces six counts of injuring a child. Other charges could be added depending on the progress made during the investigation.
The daycare has for its part been sold to a new owner, who will reopen it under a new name in the coming weeks.
