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Texas Daycare Worker Caught On Video Slamming 4-Year-Old Girl To The Ground

By Rahul Srinivas
Published on: 10:13 PST, Mar 25, 2017

A daycare worker from Texas was arrested after he was caught on camera abusing a 4-year-old girl. According to KHOU, the daycare worker identified as Gregory Diglin is now behind bars after a video showing him slamming a 4-year-old girl face first onto the floor became public. In the surveillance video embedded below, Diglin is seen yelling at the girl repeatedly. While it is not clear what he says to the child, at one point, his voice is clearly audible when he says, “Don’t say no to me” and ” “Don’t tell me no! Get off the floor!”

Warning: Some might find the video below disturbing

The visibly annoyed Diglin is then seen lifting the little girl up by her arm and slamming her on to the floor face first. The cries of the girl can also be clearly heard in the video. Later that evening when the child’s mother arrived at the Children’s Lighthouse Daycare center to pick up the child, she noticed that the child had a split lip. The child was able to tell what had happened, prompting the mother to call up deputies from the Montgomery Precinct 3 who arrived on scene a few minutes later. Attorney Jeff Kemp, who is appearing on behalf of the child’s family, praised the child for her smartness since she was able to clearly explain what had happened.

“The little girl is actually quite smart and was able to explain very well for a four-year-old what had happened,” Kemp said.

Following the child’s revelation, officers sought the footage from the surveillance camera placed inside the daycare facility and watched in shock as it showed how Diglin mistreated the little girl. He was arrested shortly after that and was charged with a third-degree felony and causing injury to a child. As of this writing, Diglin was moved to the Montgomery County Jail where he is held on a $250,000 bond. When asked about the high bond, Chief Matthew Rodrigue said, “It is a high bond. This is a pretty violent action toward a very small child. We take these things very seriously in Montgomery County.”

Meanwhile, Attorney Kemp went on to add that the girl has damaged a few of her front teeth and it is also plausible that the impact of the fall face down could have damaged the permanent teeth.

On Friday evening, the owners of the Children’s Lighthouse Daycare Center released a statement that read,

“A teacher who is now no longer employed at Children’s Lighthouse of Spring Harmony acted in a manner that neither we nor our franchisee accepts or condones. The owners of Children’s Lighthouse of Spring Harmony terminated the teacher’s employment immediately. Children’s Lighthouse Franchise Company and the owners of Children’s Lighthouse of Spring Harmony are cooperating with local authorities to ensure that the situation is handled properly.”

Following the incident, investigators are also investigating if other children who were placed at the Children’s Lighthouse Daycare were also subject to abuse at the hands of Diglin or other employees there. Authorities have also asked the public to contact them if they have any further information or if they wish to report a similar incident. Anyone with information is asked to call Investigator Epperson at 281-364-4211.

An initial investigation into the records of the Children’s Lighthouse Daycare Center revealed that the Department of Family Protection Services has cited Children’s Lighthouse a staggering 31 times in the last two years. Of the 31 complaints, nine were said to be issues of very serious nature. In the most recent instance, the DFPS has accused the center of not notifying the state after a situation emerged in the center that “placed the children at risk.” Authorities refused to divulge the nature of this situation, though.

[Featured Image by Sharomka/Shutterstock]

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