A mother in Los Angeles, California is demanding justice after disturbing surveillance footage surfaced showing a daycare employee throwing a shoe at her 5-year-old daughter, a special-needs child, inside a classroom at a local childcare facility.
The incident occurred at the Destiny Development Center, a state-licensed daycare in Inglewood, California. In the video, which has since been widely shared online, the child can be seen crawling away from a small mattress placed on the classroom floor while several daycare workers sit nearby.
At one point in the footage, a woman seated several feet away removes her shoe and forcefully hurls it in the child’s direction. The shoe appears to strike the girl, who immediately begins crying loudly. Moments later, the same worker walks over, lifts the child from the floor, and attempts to console her, repeatedly apologizing and saying she did not mean to hurt her. Other staff members in the room are seen reacting casually, with some appearing to laugh.
Mother Says Footage Was Withheld for Weeks
The child’s mother, Michelae Jones, said she was devastated after finally seeing the footage weeks after the incident occurred. Speaking to KTLA 5, Jones said, “I’ve known these people for three years. I really thought my baby was safe with you.”
According to the outlet, Jones and the child’s aunt said they were only shown the video more than two weeks after the incident took place, despite raising concerns earlier. The mother revealed that her daughter, Beautiful, had tried to explain what happened on the same evening as the incident, telling her that the teacher hit her “in the ear with a shoe.”
Jones said that when she confronted the daycare’s director shortly afterward, she was told the facility would “review the cameras” and hear the teacher’s account. Eventually, the explanation she reportedly received was that the employee had been throwing shoes in another room and that Beautiful was “accidentally” struck.
Daycare Director Responds, Employees Terminated
The daycare’s director, Danielle Williams, later spoke with KTLA and said the employee seen throwing the shoe, identified as Miss Emily, was immediately terminated. Williams also said that the other employees who were present in the room were initially suspended for failing to report the incident and were later fired after further review.
“My school, what we stand for, it’s not child abuse,” Williams said. “We don’t hire child abusers.” She added that all staff members undergo extensive screening and training before being hired. “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody’s child. And we don’t stand for it. We don’t agree with it,” she said.
Despite those actions, Jones said she remains unsatisfied with the outcome. “Like anybody else who laughs at child abuse, you need to be in jail,” she said. “That’s what I want. Justice.”
Netizens’ Reactions to the Los Angeles Daycare Incident
On X, many netizens reacted strongly after watching the footage, expressing outrage and concern over what they described as a deeply troubling incident.
One person commented, “Imagine what else was going on that was never reported.” Another wrote, “If the child was nonverbal, her mother would never know.” A third added, “Honestly, I’m trying to wrap my head around this.”
Others condemned the act outright. “Throwing a shoe at a kid is terrible,” one viewer remarked, while another said, “This is a criminal offense against a helpless special-needs child.”
