Inset: Latoya Gaines (Bay County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area outside the Florida daycare where Latoya Gaines allegedly struck a 10-year-old girl during a confrontation over a bathroom (Google Map).
In Florida, a mother has been placed on probation after an altercation where she punched a 10-year-old girl, assuming the child was monopolizing a daycare bathroom that her own daughter needed.
Latoya Gaines, 48, from Panama City, opted for a no-contest plea to charges of child abuse on July 17, leading to her being sentenced to two years of probation, according to court documents inspected by Law&Crime.
In addition to the probation, a judge in Bay County has mandated that Gaines complete 100 hours of community service and undergo evaluations for substance abuse and mental health.
The arrest affidavit reveals that Gaines visited a Bay County daycare on April 24 to collect her 5-year-old daughter along with another child. It was then she became engaged in a dispute with the young victim over access to the facility’s single-occupant restroom.
Gaines “demanded” that the victim exit the restroom “so Gaines could use it with her child,” per the affidavit.
“[The victim] requested Gaines wait her turn, at which point the altercation escalated,” the document said.
Police say Gaines “intentionally struck” the 10-year-old girl in the face with a closed fist, causing “visible bruising” around the child’s eye. Gaines then left the facility and area on foot with her two daughters.
Witnesses who were at the daycare “corroborated the reported incident” after the victim’s mother came forward to report it.
Police went to Gaines’ residence to try to make contact with her but she was not home. Officers reached Gaines by phone and she admitted to being involved in the “altercation inside the daycare,” per the affidavit.
“[The victim’s mother] advised she wished to pursue charges,” the document said.
A Facebook account with the name Latoya Gaines, from Panama City, wrote on April 29 that Gaines was innocent and being falsely accused.
“Everyone in this lil city where everyone knows everyone buisness [sic]….Did anyone stop & think about what was said & thought this is not the Latoya Gaines I know,” the account wrote in all caps. “Because if you know me you would know without a doubt I did not do this…. I’m sure their [sic] are some people that are gonna say negative stuff cause that’s what sone [sic] people would think but like I’ve I said if you know me then you would say to yourself this is not true It’s a bold face Lie.”
Court records show that Gaines began her probation on July 21.
The post Parent who socked little girl in the face when she told the mom to ‘wait her turn’ for bathroom after she ‘demanded’ that the kid get out so her own daughter could use it gets probation first appeared on Law & Crime.