Albany daycare worker arrested - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Albany daycare worker arrested

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By Christian Jennings - bio | email

ALBANY,  GA (WALB) -  An Albany daycare worker is charged with battery after police say she beat a 4-year-old child with a shoe.

The little girl has dark bruises on both her arms, and her parents are angry and upset.

4-year-old Alicia Robinson is pointing to where it hurts, her arms, which are covered in dark red bruises.

The little girl told her parents that on Monday at her daycare Step-by-Step, 34-year-old Tamika Thomas beat her with a flip flop because she wasn't napping during nap time.

The child says it was "Because I wouldn't sleep on my bed."

This a video her parents shot the night of the beating. Two days later, Alicia's bruises are still dark and hard to look at. You can even see distinct shoe patterns on her arms and shoulders.

 "I'm hurt, I'm angry, I'm scared...we trusted her...we paid her to take care of our child," said Laverne Robinson.

Instead they say Thomas beat their child until she cried.

"And I hate I couldn't be there for my child to protect her from that because...." At a loss for words Mrs. Robinson struggles to hold back tears of her own.

So does Alicia's dad. "I feel like I wasn't there for my baby. It's my job to protect my daughter," said Mark Robinson.

We stopped by Step-by-Step on Odum Avenue to talk to the owner, but she wasn't there and never returned all three of our phone calls.

But a woman answering phones at Step-by-Step told us Thomas was fired over the incident.

"Now I'm trying to make sure no one else goes through that," said Mrs. Robinson.

And her advice for parents is simple. "Talk to your children, find out what's going on at their daycare. There are monsters out there, it's our job to protect our kids."

Little Alicia says the bruises don't hurt anymore and today she was back playing with her toys like any normal 4-year-old.

But for her parents, the pain of seeing their daughter with marks like these, may never go away.

Tamika Thomas made her first appearance before a judge Wednesday morning.  She was released from the Dougherty county jail today on a $1,000 bond.

Mr. And Mrs. Robinson say neither the daycare nor Thomas have made any efforts to contact them to apologize or offer an explanation.


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