Father Accuses Daycare Employee of Locking Child in Closet

[sleepinghart]

"A father has accused a daycare employee of locking a child in a closet, although law enforcement officials say what occurred wasn't a crime.

Tony Moore has watched this 10-minute stretch of surveillance video countless times." (*Video available- Please click link below to view*)

"The whole time she looks like she's looking to make sure nobody is watching her," said Tony Moore after watching 10 minutes of surveillance video. "For her to be able to say, I didn't know he wasn't touching my leg, I didn't know he was in the room, it blows me away."

And each time he sees the same thing.

He believes the camera catches the moment the worker purposely locked his 16-month-old son, Chase, inside a closet at Discovery Point Daycare in Cumming.

Cumming is about 40 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

"I don't know why and I don't understand it, but I've seen firsthand how evil people can be," said Moore.

The video does shows a woman opening a closet and going inside. Moments later, Chase sneaks in behind her, but the woman then comes back out, closes and locks the door.

Chase was trapped inside for 10 minutes.

"A kid is missing for ten minutes and you don't notice it," said Moore.

Video also shows what happened when Moore got to the daycare.

"I'm calling his name out twice and he makes his way out of the closet," said Moore.

He says he could hear Chase crying before finding him covered in vomit and clearly shaken.

CBS46 tried speaking with officials at the daycare but they would not provide a comment. Officials with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office say a detailed investigation was conducted and the findings showed absolutely no criminal acts or criminal negligence had taken place.

Sheriff's officials went on to say they've passed the case to the state agency who oversees daycares because they typically handle incidents ruled accidental.

The state investigation could take several weeks."
~Respectfully Snipped From:http://www.fox10tv.com/story/3166291...pped-in-closet


~Please forgive me if this has already been posted somewhere. But if not, what do y'all think about this? ...Accident or intentional:confused:? I want to say accident, but I'm wondering if he was knocking on the closet door or yelling to be let out and if so did the providers hear it:confused:, so Idk.

[NightOwl]

Hmmmmmm. Accidental. But she didnt notice the child was missing for 10 whole minutes?? That's a completely separate issue that needs to be addressed. And the boy couldn't have been "locked" in there because when dad called for him, he came out of the closet on his own.

[sleepinghart]

Hmmmmmm. Accidental. But she didnt notice the child was missing for 10 whole minutes?? That's a completely separate issue that needs to be addressed. And the boy couldn't have been "locked" in there because when dad called for him, he came out of the closet on his own.

(^bolding^ by me)
~Ah! ...Good catch! Thank youlovethis!

[Thriftylady]

Hmmmmmm. Accidental. But she didnt notice the child was missing for 10 whole minutes?? That's a completely separate issue that needs to be addressed. And the boy couldn't have been "locked" in there because when dad called for him, he came out of the closet on his own.

This was my first thought. It seems accidental, I was more concerned with the fact nobody missed the child.

[sleepinghart]

Also, surely the girl knew there was a camera and that she was in full view of it; so why would she, or anyone else for that matter, do something bad intentionally in full view of the camera:confused:?

[Ariana]

Was it the end of the day with lots of parents and kids coming and going? I could see the child going 'missing' for 10 minutes during that time for sure. It sounds like an accident to me and the investigators ruled it as such.

[daycarediva]

Was it the end of the day with lots of parents and kids coming and going? I could see the child going 'missing' for 10 minutes during that time for sure. It sounds like an accident to me and the investigators ruled it as such.

This is what I was thinking as well. I have a small crew and even with two parents in and out yesterday, a dcg went into the bathroom and I didn't notice for at least 5 minutes- could have been longer (she's 4, so not the end of the world and within regs but still!)

If the child was able to leave the closet on his own, why hadn't he done that before?

If he was crying to the point of vomiting, it is highly unlikely he wasnt heard. I am going to guess this is an exaggeration.

[Unregistered]

I have to see more, but to me it seemed intentional. Not that she planned to lock him in, but she was aware he wondered in. She keeps sort of looking around and hovering by the door. To me, it sorta seems like she knew it was getting close to pick up (for him) and was going to let him out and no one would be the wiser. However, maybe time went too fast or dad came early. She still had the excuse not putting him on purpose. It wouldn't surprise me if this was intentional. Look at that elderly lady who worked in a public school who KICKED a special needs boy down and then pretended to help him up. She probably, same as this one, didn't realize it would look bad on tape and not like the accident as planned.

[Febby]

Also, surely the girl knew there was a camera and that she was in full view of it; so why would she, or anyone else for that matter, do something bad intentionally in full view of the camera:confused:?

Well, there was an incident several month ago where someone sprayed a kid in the face with air freshener in front of a camera so...

But, to me, this incident looked accidental. I've been in rooms where other staff members have accidentally shut kid in closets on accident. It happens. Of course, usually they start crying shortly after the door is shut and then you hear them and let them out. But if they don't cry, it might take a minute to realize they're missing.

[Silly Songs]

Former daycare worker here.
Usually there are measures in place to make sure these things don't happen. A closet in the room ? I would almost bet there was a protocol for teachers to check the closet before leaving and making sure they close the door behind them when they enter. Most daycare centers are on top of instances that could happen and try their best to avoid situations like that.

[NightOwl]

I have to see more, but to me it seemed intentional. Not that she planned to lock him in, but she was aware he wondered in. She keeps sort of looking around and hovering by the door. To me, it sorta seems like she knew it was getting close to pick up (for him) and was going to let him out and no one would be the wiser. However, maybe time went too fast or dad came early. She still had the excuse not putting him on purpose. It wouldn't surprise me if this was intentional. Look at that elderly lady who worked in a public school who KICKED a special needs boy down and then pretended to help him up. She probably, same as this one, didn't realize it would look bad on tape and not like the accident as planned.

This may be true, but I really don't think so. Yes, she was looking around, observing, but I have that look on my face half the day! Lol. I'm a constant counter, so I could definitely see myself looking like this on camera as I count little heads.

[Ariana]

I just looked at the video and there is no way this was intentional. I feel like people just completely vilify and think the absolute worst about caregivers. I didn't see her looking around at all...she looked like she was looking at something and was closing the doors slowly. Sure there are some rotten eggs but some people actually make mistakes! I know I have made a few. I just don't think this was intentional and furthermore why didn't the boy just come out if he was scared?? He wasn't actually locked in there. So dumb (the situation, not the boy!)

[e.j.]

I just looked at the video and there is no way this was intentional. I feel like people just completely vilify and think the absolute worst about caregivers. I didn't see her looking around at all...she looked like she was looking at something and was closing the doors slowly.

This is how I saw it, too. The video wasn't very clear but it looks to me as though there's another person to the left of the woman who is closing the doors to the closet. Because the woman's focus is on that person, she's not paying attention to what she's doing and because she isn't paying attention to what she's doing, it causes her to move more slowly as she closes the doors. It doesn't look to me as though she intentionally left the child in the closet and it doesn't look to me as though she's looking around to make sure no one has noticed what she's doing. I think in this case, she's lucky there was a camera that taped what happened.

I can see where an 18 month old might be scared of the dark once the doors closed and not know what to do to get back out. I can also imagine him crying hard enough to vomit when no one comes to get him. I wonder if there was enough noise in the main room that any crying might have been muffled. Maybe hearing his father's voice was enough to spur him to act and push on the door enough to open it.

I don't think she did it intentionally but as the parent, it would bother me to know that my child went missing for 10 minutes and no one noticed.

[Unregistered]

Locked Door

It wouldn't be right if I seen this and didn't fill the individuals in on what they have probably not seen. I am very good friends with one of the investigators on this case for the state. The one piece you are unaware of is that initially the teacher locks the door with the cold in there. Another teacher about 5 minutes later comes over and unlocks the door but never opens it. There's ALOT of holes in the initial reports that the teachers provided. Also it is a fact that the child was completely covered in his vomit. That was also disclosed in reports along with seeing the teachers clean it out of the closet after the father left the room with his child. This one could get ugly.

[sleepinghart]

I have to see more, but to me it seemed intentional. Not that she planned to lock him in, but she was aware he wondered in. She keeps sort of looking around and hovering by the door. To me, it sorta seems like she knew it was getting close to pick up (for him) and was going to let him out and no one would be the wiser. However, maybe time went too fast or dad came early. She still had the excuse not putting him on purpose. It wouldn't surprise me if this was intentional. Look at that elderly lady who worked in a public school who KICKED a special needs boy down and then pretended to help him up. She probably, same as this one, didn't realize it would look bad on tape and not like the accident as planned.

(quote)"She keeps sort of looking around and hovering by the door"(end quote)

~Where do you see this in the video...At what mark do you see her hovering around in?