A heroic waitress has gone viral on social media this week after saving a young boy by passing him a note.
According to Fox News 35, waitress Flavaine Carvalho was working a shift on New Year's day at the Mrs. Potato Restaurant on South Kirkman Road in Orlando, Florida, when she saw something seriously amiss.
Flavaine noticed the fact that everyone sitting at one particular table had something to eat apart from an 11-year-old boy - whose identity has not been publically disclosed.
Take a look at this news report on the incident in the video below:
Per Fox, a concerned Flavaine asked the boy's stepfather, Timothy Wilson II, if the child needed anything. Wilson replied that the boy would eat dinner at home later.
But on closer examination of the little boy, Flavaine was disturbed to note signs of serious injuries on his body, including scratches and bruises.
Thinking quickly, Flavaine approached the child and secretly handed him a handwritten note, which read: "Do you need help? Ok."
When the boy signaled: "yes", Carvalho immediately dialed 911. Timothy Wilson and the boy's mother, Kristen Swann, were arrested shortly thereafter.
In a later interview with police investigators, the boy detailed the shocking physical and mental abuse he had allegedly been subject to, stating that he had regularly been beaten with a wooden broom, starved, hung upside down, and forced to do 30-minute planks.
Per Fox 35, a police spokesperson stated:
"What this child had gone through, it was torture. Seeing what that 11-year-old had to go through; it shocks your soul.
"He said ratchet straps were tied around his ankles and neck, and he was hung upside down from a door. He said he was hit with a wooden broom, and handcuffed and tied to a large moving dolly.
"He also said he didn’t get to eat on a regular basis as punishment."
Meanwhile, per FOX 35 Flavaine herself stated:
"I could see he had a big scratch between his eyebrows. A couple of minutes later, I saw a bruise on the side of his eye. So I felt there was something really wrong."
Flavaine, who is herself a mother, also added that if she had the chance to see the boy again, she would give him a big hug.
Timothy Wilson was subsequently arrested on one count of third-degree child abuse. He was later arrested again and charged with multiple counts of aggravated child abuse and child neglect. Kristen Swann was also arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect.
Fox reports that both the 11-year-old and four-year-old siblings have been taken into custody by the Florida Department of Children and Families.
