VIDEO: California daycare worker accused of throwing shoe at child with special needs

LOS ANGELES (TNND) — Three daycare employees in California were fired from their jobs after one of them threw a shoe at a 5-year-old girl who has special needs, according to reports.

The incident was caught on camera.

In the footage, which was obtained by KTLA, a worker is seen taking her shoe off one of her feet before hurling it across a classroom at the child. The child is heard crying after she was hit by the shoe.

Two other workers are seen in the video, with one of them apparently laughing.

KTLA reported that the incident happened at Destiny Development Center on January 16.

Michelae Jones, who is the girl’s mother, said she wants the employee arrested on child abuse and assault charges.

“I’ve been with these people for three years,” she told KTLA. “I really thought my baby was safe.”

Jones said her daughter told her about the incident immediately after it occurred, per the outlet, so she confronted the daycare center’s director.

According to KTLA, the daycare center’s director, Danielle Williams, later told Jones that the woman who threw the shoe didn’t mean to harm the child. Williams said the employee was “throwing shoes into another room that weren’t supposed to be there and [the child] accidentally got hit in the ear with the shoe.”

The outlet said Williams launched an investigation and fired the employee who threw the shoe. She also reportedly terminated the other two workers, as they failed to report the incident.

“My school — what we stand for — it’s not child abuse. We don’t hire child abusers,” Williams said, per the outlet.