MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Hialeah woman is accused of violently shaking and slapping an 11-month-old boy at a northwest Miami-Dade County day care.
Marta Jimenez, 58, was arrested Wednesday. She faces a charge of child abuse with no great bodily harm.
According to a police report, the baby was in Jimenez’s care at Thumbelina Academy on Northwest 22nd Avenue when she picked him up out of the crib, held him above her head and violently shook him about four times to get him to stop crying, a witness told police.
The witness, whom the baby’s mother told Local 10 News was another parent, told police Jimenez then put the baby back in the crib, grabbed him and slapped him on his body and face.
Jimenez denied shaking or slapping the baby but said she was “patting him” on the buttocks “to soothe him.”
The baby’s mother said her son has only been at the day care for two weeks.
“Never in a million years I would have thought that something like this would have happened,” she said.
The mother, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she is taking her son to the doctor Thursday to make sure he is OK.
Jimenez was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and later released on a $5,000 bond.
The baby’s mother said she wants to make sure Jimenez never does something like this again.
An employee at Thumbelina Academy had no comment.
“I don’t want you right here,” she told Local 10 News reporter Parker Branton when he tried to ask her about Jimenez.
Another mother came to Jimenez’s defense, saying she’s never had any problems at Thumbelina Academy.
“This school is real good,” Shakida Massie said. “This school is very, very good.”