A Miami-Dade woman found herself behind bars after police say she slapped and shook a baby inside of a daycare in an effort to get the child to stop crying.
Officers arrested 58-year-old Marta Jimenez, of Hialeah, and charged her with one count of child abuse without causing great bodily harm for the incident Wednesday inside the Thumberlina Learning Center located off Northwest 22nd Avenue.
According to a police report, the 11-month-old male baby was crying when witnesses say Jimenez picked him up and shook him approximately four times in what they described as a violent manner.
After that, they told police that Jimenez placed the child back into a crib and slapped him on his body and face. Police say the victim had no visible injuries.
“As I entered the room, the lady was roughly changing the baby’s diaper. The she sat down and then she picked the baby back up and started shaking him constantly in the air. Then she put him back down and started beating him all over his body," one of the witnesses told NBC 6.
Jimenez denied abusing the child and claimed she patted him on his lower back and butt to soothe him. She was booked into jail Wednesday night and charged.
"I'm just overwhelmed and shocked about what's happening," the child's mother, who didn't want to be identified, said Thursday. "My sister gave me a call saying that my child was being abused at the school and that the police had given her a call.”
