Daycare Worker Allegedly Assaults Child with Metal Object, Strikes Face: Police Report

A 27-year-old ex-Pre-K teacher from New Mexico faces serious accusations of child abuse after security footage reportedly captured her striking a young boy with different objects and slapping him. Jennifer Hernandez has been detained and is facing seven charges of intentional child abuse, as announced by authorities this week.

Each of the seven charges against Hernandez is classified as a third-degree felony, carrying potential penalties of up to three years in prison and fines reaching $5,000 per charge.

The Las Cruces Police Department issued a news release detailing the investigation initiated by the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office in late February at the Discovery Development Center on Del Rey Boulevard. The inquiry began after a child’s parents reported their son had been mistreated by a day care worker.

Upon realizing the incident occurred outside their jurisdiction, investigators handed the case over to the Las Cruces Police Department.

Subsequently, a detective from the LCPD reviewed the day care’s surveillance video and allegedly discovered multiple instances of “physical abuse inflicted by Hernandez on a boy under the age of 10,” according to the police statement.

All of the alleged incidents of abuse took place during the early morning of Dec. 9, 2025.

Police noted that despite the violent nature of the attacks, the victim did not suffer “great bodily harm.” The department also emphasized that the Discovery Development Center had been “extremely cooperative with the investigation.”

Court documents obtained by El Paso, Texas-based Fox affiliate KFOX provided additional details about the alleged attack on the child.

The documents alleged the footage showed Hernandez “picking up a blue chair with metal legs and striking the male child… in his chest with the metal chair leg.” She also struck the boy in the face “with an open hand” and hit him “in the head with a black and purple pointer.”

Later in the footage, Hernandez is allegedly shown hitting the boy with the pointer “until he falls to the ground.”

Hernandez was arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center. She was initially held without bond but was no longer listed as an inmate as of Friday afternoon, jail records showed.

Police said the investigation into the alleged abuse remains ongoing and additional charges against Hernandez are possible.