Police say two women in Daytona Beach, Florida, tossed an infant back and forth outside a bar on Thursday night, and both underage suspects were drunk at the time.
The Daytona Beach Police Department said the baby’s arm may have been broken during the ordeal, Fox 35 reported Friday.
Officers arrested 20-year-old Sierrah Newell and 19-year-old Brianna Lafoe. Both women were charged with child abuse “while the latter is facing an additional battery charge, according to an arrest affidavit,” the outlet said.
Images show the accused women during the incident and their mugshots:
Two women charged after allegedly tossing baby ‘like a toy’ outside bar https://t.co/WEri56gYfB pic.twitter.com/foGO5yUHfL
— New York Post (@nypost) September 18, 2023
The baby was tossed around “like a toy,” law enforcement officers said.
The incident happened at the Coyote Ugly Saloon on Seabreeze Boulevard.
Video footage shows a blonde woman, identified as Lafoe, wearing a revealing outfit and lifting the infant up and down repeatedly while yelling at another person:
The Fox 35 report said Newell was on crutches and allegedly threatened those watching that she would hit them:
A witness who was recording the incident was approached by Lafoe, who tried to hit her. That’s when Lafoe allegedly flipped the baby upside down and grabbed him by his ankles. She also approached the witness with Newell’s crutch and attempted to strike her a second time.
When police watched the video recorded by the witness, they saw Newell sitting on the ground while Lafoe was standing up, aggressively swinging the baby up and down, the affidavit states. Lafoe allegedly held the baby upside down and shook him by his ankles over hard concrete. She also “actually and intentionally struck (the woman who was initially recording) on the right arm with an open hand,” police said.
More video footage from WESH shows the witness recording Lafoe and Newell with her cell phone. Moments later, Lafoe, still holding the baby, approaches and hits the witness.
The witness quickly gets up from her seat and moves out of the camera’s view:
“When we turned, she started throwing the baby a little bit more aggressive, in my opinion,” one woman said of the incident, adding the suspect later held the infant upside down.
“It was like, hold up. This is getting way too far,” she stated.
The baby, who also suffered red marks on his back, was later released from a hospital after undergoing treatment.
The Fox report did not identify the infant’s parents or guardian; however, Newell’s mother was there during the tense moments.
Now, officials with the Department of Children and Families are performing a background check to determine if it is safe for Newell’s mother to take custody of the baby.
