Teacher accused of telling kids to throw rocks at 4-year-old for punishment, Ark. cops say

A teacher at an Arkansas day care went to police with a chilling story.

She told deputies at the Forrest City Police Department that one of her coworkers at the Teach and Tend Day Care told six of her students to throw rocks at their 4-year-old classmate to punish him, according to Fox13.

The woman provided police with a video that shows part of the April 26 incident, which Fox13 just obtained.

The child cries out as rocks fly, the video shows. A police report states that an adult voice is heard saying "He'll learn to stop. OK that's enough."

Child services is now looking into the video, according to WCMH. The woman who filed the police report said the 4-year-old was punished for throwing rocks on the ground. She also alleged that it's not the first time something like this has happened.

But the teacher says she never ordered her students to pelt the boy with stones, police told Fox13. The owner of the day care said the police report came from an angry teacher, who is no longer employed there.

A police investigation is ongoing.

Multiple people took to the day care's Facebook page to leave angry comments and one star reviews.

"Yes it’s all the fault of a disgruntled employee, not the adult telling kids to throw rocks," wrote a user named George Dillard.

"Just watched the video currently circulating the web of the teacher telling kids to throw rocks at another student as a form of punishment," Amandalynn Monks wrote. "Unacceptable and disgusting."

The story even reached international audiences.

"I hope officials investigating this day care center are thorough and get to the bottom of what happened to the poor child that had stones thrown at him," wrote a user named Connie Starke. "I am appalled. This has reached world news. I just read the story on a British online newspaper."

There have been other recent cases of alleged child abuse at day cares.

Tiffany Griffin told police she left her 1-year-old son at the Kiddiegarden day care in Indianapolis, Indiana — and the child returned with a swollen, bruised and bloody face. The day care owner said the injuries came from a 2-year-old, police say, and “a medical expert confirmed that the child’s injuries were consistent with having been inflicted by another young child."

That means there will be no criminal charges filed in the case.

Another day care owner in Minneapolis, Minnesota, hanged a 16-month-old toddler in February and then ran over a man while fleeing in a gold Toyota Sienna, police say. Nataliia Karia allegedly dragged the man, who exited his car to check damage after he was rear-ended, for 10 blocks before she got out of her car and tried to jump off an overpass.

She pleaded guilty to third degree assault, criminal vehicular operation and attempted murder.

And in one final case, 66-year-old Elvira Ortega, who owns a day care in Salt Lake City, Utah, is accused of breaking a child's legs when she shoved him feet-first onto a bathroom floor in February. She was arrested for felony child abuse, police say, and told officers she would “rather be deported than go to jail."

This story was originally published May 12, 2018 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Teacher accused of telling kids to throw rocks at 4-year-old for punishment, Ark. cops say."