Child care worker accused of hitting girl

ALBANY, Ga. — A child care business employee is out on $1,000 bail, but faces battery charges after she was accused of hitting a 4-year-old girl left in her care, officials said.

Tamika Thomas, 34, went through a first hearing Wednesday in Magistrate Court of Dougherty County in connection with battery of a child, said Greg Edwards, Dougherty Judicial Circuit district attorney.

At that hearing, bail was set at $1,000 and Thomas was let out of jail, a Dougherty County Jail spokeswoman said.

“I’m not quite sure, but at issue might be the disciplining of a child,” Edwards said. “It is the right of parents, but not day care workers.”

Laverne Robinson said she has had good relations with Thomas and the business that looks after her child. Thomas said she uses the Step by Step Developmental Learning for Children at 422 Odom Avenue, where Thomas is employed.

Something went wrong Monday, Robinson said.

“She beat my child with a flip-flop,” Robinson said. “All the children had nap time, but my daughter wasn’t asleep. So she was beaten severely. She had bruises all over her arms.”

Robinson said and her husband, Mark, didn’t discover the bruises until it was time for their daughter to have a bath Monday night.

“She had all these bruises with the pattern of what she was hit with,” Robinson said. “We called the police Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.”

Albany Police Department officers investigated the allegations against Thomas and arrested her, said Phyllis Banks, police spokeswoman.

A call to the child care business asking to speak to Thomas and the business owner went unreturned Wednesday.