A day care employee was caught on camera physically abusing an 11-year-old child with disabilities, including by putting hand sanitizer on open wounds on the child’s arms, authorities said.
Administrative staff at Tender Care PPEC in Spring Hill called the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 9 about a day care aide, Kaitlyn Pitzer, 36, harming the child inside the facility in a span of minutes, according to an Oct. 14 news release from the sheriff’s office.
Pitzer, who has since been fired, is now charged with one count of child abuse, the sheriff’s office said.
Information on her legal representation was not immediately available.
Surveillance footage from the day care first showed Pitzer and another aide trying to bandage the 11-year-old’s forehead while the child was sitting on the floor, according to authorities.
When the child moved forward, Pitzer “forcefully” pushed the child’s forehead, “causing the child’s body to jerk backward in a manner that appeared violent and excessive,” the sheriff’s office said.
Minutes later, at about 3:06 p.m., authorities said Pitzer taunted the child with a slice of cake, leading to the child swiping at the piece and getting icing on their finger.
Appearing frustrated, Pitzer grabbed the child’s finger and used it to smear icing onto their face, according to the sheriff’s office.
She then “aggressively” smeared more icing that had been on the floor onto the child’s forehead, authorities said.
Pitzer later told deputies in an interview that she thought the icing incident “was ‘funny’ in the moment,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Afterward, the surveillance footage showed Pitzer “forcefully” wiping the icing off the child’s face with a paper towel. The child appears distressed and is seen trying to get away from her, authorities said.
Then, Pitzer grabbed the child and took them to a hand sanitizer dispenser, according to authorities.
She took hand sanitizer and placed it onto wounds on their arms, causing the child to run “to the other side of the classroom in distress,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies spoke with the child’s parent, who was concerned over the surveillance footage and said Pitzer’s “force used to shove the child backward could have caused serious injury due to pre-existing medical conditions.”
“The parent also reported that scabbed injuries, which had been in the process of healing, began bleeding again after the incident,” the sheriff’s office said.
Tender Care did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment October 15.
In addition to Spring Hill, located about a 50-mile drive north from Tampa, Tender Care operates five other prescribed pediatric extended care facilities in Florida and one in Houston, Texas.
The business’s website says it provides “skilled nursing care to medically complex and fragile children from birth to 21 years of age in a daycare-like environment.”
Pitzer was arrested at her home on October 9, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities said she acknowledged being frustrated and that she acted inappropriately.
Pitzer was detained in the Hernando County Detention Center on a $5,000 bond, according to authorities.
By JULIA MARNIN/McClatchy News
Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.
