Two Atlanta preschool teachers are facing child cruelty charges after authorities say physical abuse was caught on a live camera feed inside the school.
A Roswell Police Department news release revealed that teachers Zeina Alostwani, 40, and Soriana Briceno, 19, were taken into custody on Monday at Fulton County Jail on child cruelty charges, CNN reports.
Concerned parents Brant Duncan and Gloria Barghi from Parker-Chase Preschool in Roswell, Georgia, contacted authorities after logging into the camera system at the school and witnessing concerning physical contact between the teachers and several children.
As reported by WSBT-TV, the school has a so-called "nanny cam" which is a live stream available in every classroom for parents to have access to throughout the day.
The alleged physical abuse was caught in a video clip released by the police department. The footage shows a group of students sitting on the floor inside a classroom.
A few seconds in, the video shows one teacher bumping another student in the back with her knee while the other teacher, who is sitting in front of the child on the floor, appears to use her finger to push the child's head back.
Barghi, who has a three-year-old son in the classroom, said she watched the live broadcast because she wanted to check on him.
"I saw it but I was like ‘Oh, I didn’t see that'" she said. "We saw the second teacher put her hands on the child."
Barghi told CNN that she quickly rushed to the school to confront the teachers after witnessing the incident on the livestream. She demanded they be removed from the classroom.
The mother of the three-year-old added that when she arrived at the school, she alerted the staff about the incident. She also informed the mother of one of the victims about the incident and both demanded to view the recording.
After an employee at the school allowed both parents to view the recording to confirm what they had previously seen, one of the victims' parents then contacted the police.
"There's no way I'll ever trust that school. I think it should be shut down," Barghi said about the incident. "These are people I trusted with my children. It was a gut punch. I felt [shocked], disgusted, and betrayed."
Endeavor Schools, the parent company of the Parker Chase Preschool, addressed the incident in a statement, saying: "We were shocked and disappointed to learn that on Thursday, June 2nd, teachers in the Parker-Chase Pre-Primary B classroom used inappropriate disciplinary actions with children.
"The teachers in question were immediately removed from the classroom and have been dismissed. We reported this matter to our licensing agency and Children’s Protective Services and are cooperating fully with the authorities, who have informed us that criminal charges are being pursued."
The Roswell Police Department is reviewing "several weeks" of footage from the "nanny cam" as part of the ongoing investigation into the act of alleged child abuse.
"It doesn’t matter whose child it is," Duncan added to WSBT-TV. "It’s a child. They’re helpless. They’re defenseless."
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