A woman in South Carolina has been arrested after she allegedly made a video of herself pouring water over her sleeping baby’s face, then posted it on Facebook.
According to BuzzFeed News, 33-year-old Caitlin Hardy posted the video on Saturday night with the caption, “Payback for waking me up all kinda times of da night” and three laughing emojis.
The short video, according to Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, shows Hardy laughing as she tips water from a bottle onto her 9-month-old daughter’s face, causing her to sputter and move, but not wake up. Hardy continues to laugh harder as she pours more water directly onto her baby’s mouth and nose. The baby wakes up and starts coughing and crying, and the video ends.
Hardy’s treatment of her baby daughter may have only been discovered thanks to a Facebook group for raising awareness about child abuse called Where is Baby Kate? A member of the group was able to record Hardy’s video before she took it down, and Where is Baby Kate? posted it with Hardy’s name and the local sheriff’s office number. The post quickly racked up hundreds of comments and over a thousand shares.
Sheriff Anthony Dennis told BuzzFeed News the sheriff’s office received many calls and messages from “concerned persons” about the video. Hardy was charged with cruelty to children but was released from detention on Wednesday on a $1,500 bond. According to BuzzFeed News, this is not the first time Hardy had issues with the law and her childcare, as she was charged with a misdemeanor in 2014 for allegedly improperly securing a child in a vehicle.
Admin for Where is Baby Kate? emphasized the importance of capturing these abuses in a post, saying, “I can not 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.”
H/T BuzzFeed News