Indy daycare worker on leave after video appears to show child dragged

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis daycare worker has been placed on administrative leave after a video surfaced online Thursday appearing to show the worker dragging a child by the arm.

The child and the worker, both of whom were not identified, appear in the video to be in the playground area outside the La Petite Academy day care on Indianapolis’ southside. The man who recorded the video, Patrick Reynolds, wrote on Facebook that the boy appeared to have intially run away from the worker who gave chase.

He went on to write that: “she was dragging him by one arm, jerking him around and in my opinion using way more force than needed. Couldn’t she just pick him up?…”

Watch the video in the link above.

As of 7 p.m. the video had been viewed more than 36,000 times.

A daycare spokeswoman, Lydia Cisaruk, provided this statement to I-Team 8:

“We take our responsibility as caregivers very seriously.Upon being made aware of this, we immediately notified DCS. We are partnering with the authorities and conducting our own investigation into what occurred, and will take all appropriate steps. The employee is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.We have strict policies and procedures to ensure we’re providing the highest level of care, and we don’t tolerate deviation from these standards. Nothing is more important to us than our children’s well-being (sic).” 

A call placed to the daycare went unanswered.

The Department of Child Services has been notified of the incident.

Marni Lemons, a spokeswoman for the state’s Family and Social Services Administration, told I-Team 8:

“We were informed of the video yesterday afternoon by DCS and are investigating from a licensing standpoint,” she said.