Day care worker bounces baby like ‘a ragdoll,’ causing brain injury, Texas cops say
A day care worker has been arrested after Texas police say video shows her bouncing a baby like “a ragdoll.”
Officers responded around 11 p.m. Oct. 16 to a children’s hospital for a welfare concern about a 3-month-old, according to an Oct. 24 news release from the Temple Police Department.
Officers learned the baby had been dropped off at Ignite Learning Academy around 8 a.m. and was brought into the hospital around 4 p.m. after showing “unusual lethargy,” police said.
According to an arrest affidavit, video shows 24-year-old day care provider Jasmine Collum, of Temple, forcefully swinging and bouncing the baby, causing him to “flop around” like “a ragdoll,” KWTX reported. It led to the baby suffering a subdural hematoma and hemorrhages in both eyes, according to the news outlet.
Video shows Collum using her hands and feet to push the bouncer, causing the baby to jolt back and forth, and picking him up by his head when he falls over, KWTX reported.
Collum is also videoed putting her foot on the baby’s chest and pushing down to bounce him, KXXV reported, citing the affidavit.
After the baby went limp and became unresponsive, Collum brought him to the day care director who called emergency services, the outlet reported.
Collum is charged with injury to a child and is being held in the Bell County Jail on a $125,000 bond, jail records show.
McClatchy News reached out to Collum’s attorney and Ignite Learning Academy Oct. 25 for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Temple police said the case remains under investigation, urging “anyone with information about this case or any case they believed to be related to Ignite Learning Academy” to call 254-298-5009 or email ggoodson@templetx.gov.
Temple is about a 70-mile drive northeast from Austin.
This story was originally published October 25, 2024 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Day care worker bounces baby like ‘a ragdoll,’ causing brain injury, Texas cops say."
