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A nursery worker has been charged after allegedly abusing a disabled child that was in her care, according to a police statement. Horror footage appears to show Kaitlyn Pitzer, 36, putting hand sanitiser on open wounds on the 11-year-old's arms and taunting the child by smearing icing on their face. She has since been fired from the day care centre. Police say that video surveillance shows Pitzer and another aide trying to bandage the 11-year-old's forehead while the child was sitting on the floor. When the child moved forward, Pitzer "forcefully" pushed the child's forehead, "causing the child's body to jerk backward in a manner that appeared violent and excessive," according to police. Minutes later, authorities claim Pitzer taunted the child with a slice of cake, leading the child to swipe at the piece and get icing on their finger. The accused nursery worker, from Florida, then grabbed the child's finger and used it to smear icing onto their face, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. She then "aggressively" smeared more icing that had been on the floor onto the child's forehead, it is alleged. She later told deputies in an interview that she thought the icing incident "was "funny in the moment," authorities said. The surveillance appears to show Pitzer "forcefully" wiping the icing off the visibly distressed child's face with a paper towel. The nursery worker then grabbed the child and took them to a hand sanitiser dispenser, according to authorities. She took hand sanitiser and placed it onto wounds on their arms, causing the child to run "to the other side of the classroom in distress," the sheriff's office said. Deputies spoke with the child's parent, who was very concerned over the surveillance footage and said Pitzer's "force used to shove the child backward could have caused serious injury due to pre-existing medical conditions". "The parent also reported that scabbed injuries, which had been in the process of healing, began bleeding again after the incident," the Miami Herald reports. The alleged incident took place at Tender Care PPEC in Spring Hill. Deputies say the administration at the facility had concerns Pitzer, who had recently been sacked, had "mistreated a child while she was employed with the facility". Pitzer has since been charged with one count of child abuse, the sheriff's office said. She was arrested at her home on Oct. 9. Authorities said she acknowledged being frustrated and that she acted inappropriately. Pitzer was detained in the Hernando County Detention Center on a $5,000 (£3,713) bond, according to authorities.
