A mother has been arrested on suspicion of cruelty to children after a video showing a woman pouring water over a sleeping baby was circulated online.
Caitlin Alyse Hardy, 33, is accused of causing "ill-treatment, unnecessary pain and suffering, and/or deprivation of necessary sustenance" upon a 9-month-old girl in connection to the video which was filmed in Sumter County, South Carolina, on January 26.
Hardy is alleged to have poured a bottle of water on the baby while she slept, causing her to wake up and start coughing. Hardy also recorded the incident and posted the video onto her Facebook.
According to screenshots of the now deleted video which were shared online, Hardy uploaded the video with the caption "payback for waking me up all kinda times of da night."
A warrant was issued for Hardy's arrest after "numerous concerned persons" contacted police about the video, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
The department said they also notified the Sumter County Department of Social Services so that an investigation into the incident can be conducted "for the benefit and safety of all children in this home." Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis said, "The charge against this defendant will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
A Facebook page dedicated to Baby Kate, a Michigan child who was killed by her father in 2011 whose body was never found, praised the arrest of the 33-year-old after circulating images of the water pouring incident in a bid to trace the suspect. "WE DID IT!!! TY ALL FOR HELPING US!!!," a post on "Where is Baby Kate" read.
In a follow up message, the page added: "We received a message from a concerned member yesterday about a woman posting a video of her pouring water on her baby's face, this video was posted to where only people on her fb could see it. I asked the concerned member if she could take a video of it and they did it for me within seconds, as soon as the member got the video the 'mom' took it down.
"I cannot express enough how important it is to take videos and download pics of child abuse that are posted to FB. As soon as the poster knows people have an issue with what they posted they will take it down.
"These things are very important to have if we want to help these babies. I would also like to tell you ALL how appreciated you are. It takes ALL of us to help save these babies."
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
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