A Connecticut daycare teacher has been arrested after an investigation into the reported assault of a young child, police said.
The Middletown Police Department‘s Special Investigations Unit received a complaint on Jan. 12, 2024, that a 2-year-old child was allegedly assaulted by a teacher at the Town & Country Early Learning Center at 195 South Main St. in Middletown, according to police
The facility notified the complainants of the assault and allowed them to watch an internal surveillance video of the alleged incident, police said. The complainants then went to the Middletown police headquarters and requested that the teacher, later identified as 47-year-old Kristie Kovarcik of Haddam, be arrested, according to police.
During the investigation, detectives obtained surveillance video that reportedly showed Kovarcik picking up the 2-year-old and tossing the child to the side, police said. Police said the child’s head then reportedly hit a nearby wall, causing a cut above their right eye.
According to police, the facility director heard a commotion and pulled up the surveillance camera for Kovarcik’s room. She told police she saw Kovarcik toss the child aside and heard the child’s head hit the wall. The director then went the room, removed the child and reported the incident to the parents and the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.
After an investigation, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Kovarcik, charging her with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree reckless endangerment.
Kovarcik turned herself in to the police on Feb. 26, 2024. She was processed and released on a written promise to appear for her scheduled court date on Monday.
Town & Country reported that Kovarcik was terminated from her job as a result of the incident.