Rochester, MN – A daycare provider in Rochester is charged with injuring a kid after getting “overwhelmed” by the child’s sobs during naps.
Police were summoned to a daycare in northwest Rochester on May 29 to look into a possible case of child abuse. An officer noticed bruising on a 13-month-old child’s back and shoulder blade while chatting with the parents.
Earlier in the day, police and a daycare witness looked over CCTV footage. Alexis Kemp, 25, is one of the employees who allegedly picked up the child and “slammed her face down into the crib followed by forceful open hand hits to [the child’s] back.” According to the charging documents, she then put her hand on the back of the child’s head and “pressed it into the crib mattress for several seconds.”
According to the officer, Kemp grabbed another child by the leg and pulled them violently about the same time as that incident, causing the 1-year-old to fall backward and strike their head on the hard floor. Whether the youngster was injured as a result of the fall was not stated in the charging documents.
According to prosecution documents, Kemp allegedly said that she “used too much force” to try to persuade the 13-month-old to lay down after becoming “overwhelmed” by the child’s sobbing during nap time.
Kemp was charged on Monday with two counts of malicious punishment of a kid under the age of four by Olmsted County prosecutors. Each felony charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine if found guilty.
Kemp is still being held at the Olmsted County Jail. She appeared in court for the first time on Monday.
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